Do Holocaust survivors show increased vulnerability or resilience to post‐Holocaust cumulative adversity?†
The Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe was funded by the U.S. National Institute on Aging (R21 AG2516901), by the German‐Israeli Foundation for Scientific Research and Development (G.I.F.), and by the National Insurance Institute of Israel. Further support was given by the European Commission through the 6th framework program (projects SHARE‐I3, RII‐CT‐2006‐062193, and COMPARE, CIT5‐CT‐2005‐028857). We are grateful to Howard Litwin for facilitating our study with the data.
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Abstract
Prior trauma can hinder coping with additional adversity or inoculate against the effect of recurrent adversity. The present study further addressed this issue by examining whether a subsample of Holocaust survivors and comparison groups, drawn from the Israeli component of the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe, were differentially affected by post‐Holocaust cumulative adversity. Post‐Holocaust cumulative adversity had a stronger effect on the lifetime depression of Holocaust survivors than on that of comparisons. However, comparisons were more negatively affected by post‐Holocaust cumulative adversity when examining markers of physical and cognitive functioning. Our findings suggest that previous trauma can both sensitize and immunize, as Holocaust survivors show general resilience intertwined with specific vulnerability when confronted with additional cumulative adversity.
