Long-term adjustment and the role of attachment among Holocaust child survivors

Abstract

This study examines the long-term adjustment of child survivors of the Nazi Holocaust and the role of attachment among treated and untreated Holocaust survivors. The findings show that both treated and untreated survivors reported significantly higher levels of post-traumatic residues than the non-Holocaust controls, while the treated survivors reported higher levels than the untreated ones. Treated survivors also differed from the other two groups in their levels of avoidant and anxious-ambivalent characteristics and fear of intimacy and from the control group in the level of the secure attachment dimension. The findings of the study emphasize the lasting impact of the Holocaust on the child survivors and is consistent with the clinical and empirical literature on child survivors of the Holocaust. The findings also demonstrate the wide variability among the Holocaust survivors and the contribution of attachment to the long term adjustment of the survivors.