Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.

Background

Parent-child separations have been associated with adverse health and well-being, with most research focusing on prolonged separations driven by war, famine or disease. Verschickungskinder ('sent-away children') - the eight to twelve million German children who, in the decades following World War II, were separated from their families for several weeks to stay in so-called children's health resorts - represent a largely overlooked case of short-term separation. Despite growing recognition of adverse experiences and abuse in these settings, little is known about the long-term mental health of this population or which characteristics of the sent-away experience are associated with these outcomes.

Objective

To examine whether sent-away children show more depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress overload compared with peers, and to identify which characteristics of the sent-away experience are associated with these outcomes.Method: An anonymous online survey was conducted with 334 sent-away children and 77 participants in a convenience comparison group (M = 61.1 yrs.; 72.7% female). Linear regression models, adjusting for ACEs and sociodemographics, examined group differences and associations between characteristics of the sent-away experience (age at separation, sex, number of separations, emotional memory) and these outcomes.

Results

Sent-away children reported more depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and stress overload than comparison participants (all p < .001). Bivariate comparisons among the sent-away children indicated that younger age at separation was associated with more depressive symptoms, repeated separations with higher stress overload, and very negative memories with all three outcomes; no sex differences were observed. When entered simultaneously in regression models, emotional memory of the event was the only sent-away characteristic associated with depressive (p = .02) and anxiety symptoms (p = .009).

Conclusions

Findings highlight the potential long-term mental health relevance of the sent-away experience, particularly among those with very negative memories of their experiences.