It is undeniable that stress experienced during a person’s lifetime is often correlated with stress-related problems in that person’s offspring — and even in the offspring’s offspring. Perhaps the best-studied example is that of the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Research shows that survivors’ children have greater-than-average chances of having stress-related psychiatric illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder, even without being exposed to higher levels of stress in their own lives.
Similar correlations are found in other populations. Studies suggest that genocides in Rwanda, Nigeria, Cambodia, Armenia and the former Yugoslavia have brought about distinct psychopathological symptoms in the offspring of survivors.
Source: The New York Times.
I would imagine that stress is just as inheritable as any other personality trait that an offspring takes on from its parent. Inheriting stress is just as valid as, say,shyness.
Yeah and the continuation of introverts
If this is true and we inherit the stress of our ascendancy, then it will mean that our children will have a lot of stress accumulated before even being born. This is a dire outlook for future generations, which will carry unbearable amounts of stress once they reach adolescence. Maybe this explains why the world has become less patient, why suicides have increased significantly and why it is increasingly difficult to establish a relationship. If the study is true, maybe the current situation is due to a saturation of stress.
Maybe they will get used to the stress and be better because of it
Without denying the results of the investigation, I believe that the stress levels of parents have a direct effect on the way they raise their children, regardless of genetics. If one or both parents lived through a stressful life event, that must have shaped their parenting style. One way to see if it is genetic or due to parenting style, is by analyzing the stress of adopted children when their adoptive parents have lived through a stressful situation.
Based on socialization theory, family, peer groups, and society are three major sources forming a child’s perception of society. It is more like a social approach rather than a genetic one.
I think that surviving the Holocaust or any other genocide that have occurred through history has to mark someone’s life so deeply that they will affect the life of their future generations. If you think about it we are all product of our previous generations. We are molded by them and are taught to think the way they believe is the correct way. If one is raised by a survivor of such atrocities, one would be impacted by such experiences. Parents have so much influence in the life of their children that is hard for me to picture that stress is transferred solely by genetic means.
We can blame our earliest ancestors too!
As you mention, it would be interesting to find out what happens with adoptive parents. It is the best way for us to determine if stress is due to genetics or the way we are raised. I think that the results will show that the baby with stressed parents, raised by unstressed parents will not show signs of significant distress. It will also show that the children of unstressed parents, raised by stressed parents, will show higher levels of stress than they would normally.
I would assume they pass on their stress to the new children
“It may seem unlikely that the effects of such stress could be directly transmitted to the child.”
It’s because our parents stress us out so much.
Learning how to drive was a nightmare, and now I will probably put my children through that same stress.
“Similar correlations are found in other populations. Studies suggest that genocides in Rwanda, Nigeria, Cambodia, Armenia and the former Yugoslavia have brought about distinct psychopathological symptoms in the offspring of survivors.”
Millions will be affected for generations to come, these experience create generational issues that can never be fixed through continuous parenting
Scarily, adoption or no children is the only way
But then they gain the traits of that family, which could be worse effects
Stress is the anxiety people feel in the face of uncertainty in their lives or pressure to perform in the workplace or at home. Anxiety (and risk aversion) are inheritable traits to some degree. Stress could be as well.
However, this example is different. It relates to extraneous stressors. I suspect that the immense stress on the individual caused them to react in ways that stressed their children. This stress may have had a chain reaction.
Yes,stess can be inherited through offspring developmental changes in the brain.There are also genetic factors in the role stress plays in the pathophysiology of psychotic illness.