Generational Trauma

by Mike James

We are all aware of the dangers of traumatic events. These events—like physical, sexual, or psychological abuse—can impact victims for many years. Research into this field is also addressing how certain trauma can be passed on generationally.

Generational trauma entails maladaptive behaviors and patterns passed down from parents to children. Let me give you a couple of examples. One would be when a parent has experienced childhood abuse of some sort. Once they have their own children they begin abusing them in the same way they were abused. Children often mirror or replicate what they learned from their parents in so many ways.

Another form of generational trauma can be epigenetic. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression. In other words, how your experience might alter the cells and behavior of your children and grandchildren. 

The seminal study on this centers on the “Dutch Hunger Winter” of 1944-1945 during World War II when Nazis occupying the Netherlands restricted food transport as punishment for the Dutch government’s support of the Allies. A hard winter and bad crops left the population with rations of less than 900 calories per day for months. About 22,000 people died.

Many years later, scientists began researching the children of women who were pregnant during this time. What they found, in part, was that they were heavier than average, had higher levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, and were more prone to obesity and diabetes. Even though the risk of starvation was gone for this generation there seemed to be “memory” that was trying to protect the children from a land with no food.

Other studies have been conducted on the children of Holocaust survivors, Native American communities, and the sons of Civil War prisoners of war. The findings seem to support the idea that trauma did lead to changes in future generations. Critics argue that these studies are looking at small sample sizes and exaggerating causality.

Bianca Jones Marlin is an assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and principal investigator of the Marlin Lab at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute. She said that inherited trauma is not about traumatic life events being able to change our DNA (or that of our children), but rather “a memory of a traumatic event in our ancestors living on in us.” Exactly how it lives on, and for what reason, is what researchers aim to discover.

Others do believe human genes can be altered by trauma. We do know emotional trauma does express itself in our physical bodies. Whether or not it can affect the DNA of future generations is still being researched.

Moving away from the epigenetic example and back to the behavioral example – we find that trauma can be passed on to future generations through communication. An example of this can be a parent who is overprotective due to what happened to them as a child. They can constantly be warning their children about strangers and outsiders. The child can grow up overly fearful.

Does the Bible have anything to say on this matter? Notice Exodus 34:6-7: Thus the Lord passed before him and cried out, “The Lord, the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity, continuing His kindness for a thousand generations, and forgiving wickedness and crime and sin; yet not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for their father’s wickedness.” What exactly is this saying? 

We need to first understand the context of the scripture. Remember this is the part of the story where Moses had to get the second set of stones for God to write on since he broke the first set due to the Israelites building a golden calf to worship.

God is alluding to punishing the Israelite children of future generations because of the sinful actions of their parents. The Israelites had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. An entire generation had lived and died. The children of that generation also heard the stories and experienced the wandering.

Later we read how the next generation still had doubts about God.

Contrast this with Ezekiel 18:20 where we read God doesn’t want to punish us for the sins of our fathers. Ezekiel 18:21-22 make it clear we can turn back to God and He will forgive us. 

Even in the Exodus scripture we read that God is slow to anger and abounding in love and forgiveness. He does not want to punish us, but sin can have generational consequences. God knows the cycle of sin can stay in place and impact future generations. In Ezekiel we learn that the cycle can be broken by turning back to God.

So in conclusion, for those who have suffered some type of generational trauma, the Scriptures are clear (Colossians 1:13-14)—Christ’s sacrifice has rescued you from whatever you may have experienced in life. The darkness you have experienced is ended in Christ. Believe it and break the cycle!

Sources

“Why Understanding Inherited Trauma is Critical, and What It Means for Our Kids,” by Kelly Hoover Greenway, The Washington Post, August 24, 2021.

“What is Generational Trauma and Is It in the Bible?” by Ashley Hooker, Crosswalk.com.