Focusing on Racial, Historical and Intergenerational Trauma, and Resilience: A Paradigm to Better Serving Children and Families

Abstract

Research across populations demonstrates that intergenerational trauma can have lasting biological, psychological, and social consequences and affects groups of individuals in different ways. An appreciation of intergenerational trauma as experienced in diverse populations is important not only for understanding vulnerabilities and risk but also for cultivating opportunities for posttraumatic growth and healing. Understanding the contexts of trauma for children and families and the unveiling of structural inequities, both past and present, offers the opportunity to address these in using clinical and systems of care approaches in the public health spheres.

Keywords: American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN); Black; Children; Historical trauma; Intergenerational trauma; Latinx; Racism; Resilience.