Zlotogorski, Z. (1983). Offspring of Concentration Camp Survivors: The Relationship of Perceptions of Family Cohesion and Adaptability to Levels of Ego Functioning. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 24, 345-354.

Abstract

73 Jewish offspring of Holocaust survivors who were born after the repatriation of their parents were compared with 68 Jewish individuals who reside in major metropolitan areas in the US. Both groups were administered a satisfaction with well-being questionnaire, the Sentence Completion Test, and the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales. With respect to offspring’s perceptions of family cohesion, results indicate that both Ss of Holocaust survivors and comparison Ss viewed their families in the midrange of the circumplex model. It was demonstrated that extreme perceptions of family cohesion (i.e., enmeshment or disengagement) were significantly related to a S’s level of functioning and not to family type. Level of functioning, in turn, was demonstrated to be distributed evenly for both groups of Ss. Perceptions of family adaptability were significantly related to level of functioning. Individual comparisons of the mean dependent variable adaptability scores revealed that high-functioning children of Holocaust survivors perceived their families as significantly less optimal on this dimension than high-functioning comparison Ss. Data indicate that the survivors’ capacity to respond to their children’s needs was probably more closely linked to their own developmental history than to the severity of their war experiences. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)