{
  "abstract": "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.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Psychology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.",
    "Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ilona S Yim",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2769-7253"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Precious J Rivera",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3638-3707"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Kristin von Majewski",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9995-7165"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Nicolas Rohleder",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2602-517X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yasmin B Kofman",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9706-418X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mmdj52h4qv84.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1080/20008066.2026.2739683",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13689805",
  "id": "8mmdj52h4qv84",
  "issns": [
    "2000-8066"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902774",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "3203|Child Abuse and Trauma"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223109386",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13689805?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13689805",
  "pmid": "42902774",
  "published": "2026-10-21",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mmdj52h4qv84.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42902774",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902774"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:3203|Child Abuse and Trauma",
      "subfield": "psychiatry"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.",
  "title_text": "Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:53Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8mmdj52h4qv84",
  "venue": "European journal of psychotraumatology",
  "versions": []
}