The Intergenerational Transmission of War Trauma: Empathy, and War-Mongering in the First Generation

Sajjadi, Mandana; Salimi, Hossein

doi:10.22054/jep.2022.68017.3639

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Mandana Sajjadi ¹
Hossein Salimi ²

¹ PhD Candidate, International relations, Allameh Tabataba&#039;i University

² Professor, International Relations Dept., Allameh Tabataba'i University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22054/jep.2022.68017.3639

Abstract

War, as a significant phenomenon of international politics, is an unpleasant collective experience that can contaminate the fabric of society and leave an undesirable legacy for future generations. This study aimed to evaluate whether intergenerational transmission of war trauma influenced empathy capacity and war-mongering among the next generation. The subjects of this study included 182 people born in the 80s and 90s (the first generation of the Iran-Iraq war survivors) whose parents had different experiences in war. A mixed questionnaire was distributed to assess the severity of war trauma experienced by parents from children's perspectives. To assess empathy capacity and belligerent attitude, the participants also completed warmongering and interpersonal reactivity questionnaires. Quantitative data were analyzed using correlation analysis and linear regression analysis, while qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. Researchers found a significant link between the severity of parents' traumatic experiences of war and their children's cognitive capacity for empathy. In other words, the more painful their experiences of war were, the lower the cognitive capacity of empathy their children had. Furthermore, children's belligerent attitude was not significantly influenced by the severity of their parents' war trauma.

Keywords

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استناد به این مقاله: سجادی، ماندانا و سلیمی، حسین. (1401). انتقال بین نسلی تجربه جمعی جنگ و ظرفیت همدلی و نگرش جنگ‌طلبانه در نسل بعد. فصلنامه روان‌شناسی تربیتی، 18(63)، 59-81.

doi: 10.22054/jep.2022.68017.3639

Educational Psychology is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

The Intergenerational Transmission of War Trauma: Empathy, and War-Mongering in the First Generation

References

References

Volume 18, Issue 63April 2022Pages 59-81

Volume 18, Issue 63
April 2022
Pages 59-81