Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.
- 1Department of Psychology, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
- 2Department of Psychology, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany.
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.
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BibTeX
@article{yim2026germanys,
title = {{Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.}},
author = {Ilona S Yim and Precious J Rivera and Kristin von Majewski and Nicolas Rohleder and Yasmin B Kofman},
journal = {European journal of psychotraumatology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1080/20008066.2026.2739683},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902774},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Germany's Verschickungskinder: parent-child separation and mental health.
AU - Ilona S Yim
AU - Precious J Rivera
AU - Kristin von Majewski
AU - Nicolas Rohleder
AU - Yasmin B Kofman
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - European journal of psychotraumatology
DO - 10.1080/20008066.2026.2739683
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42902774
AB - 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.
SN - 2000-8066
ER -