A decade after the attacks that shocked France, a new study reveals how trauma continues to shape the lives of victims’ families and their children.
Ten years after the November 13 attacks, France is once again reflecting on its darkest night. A new study reveals that the trauma from the coordinated assaults in Paris, which killed 130 people, continues to affect victims’ families and even the next generation.
French researchers have found that the psychological wounds of the attacks persist a decade later, with signs of “transmitted trauma” in the children of survivors and victims.
“Traumatized parents changed their way of raising children, which had a domino effect,” explains neuropsychologist Bérengère Guillery, who leads the resilience and trauma transmission study.
Among the stories is that of Caroline Jolivet, who lost her husband Christophe at the Bataclan concert hall. “I had to go on for my children, though I didn’t know how,” she recalls.
Her two sons, then aged 2 and 6, grew up fearing the night and struggling with loss. “They said they shouldn’t have let him go,” she says.
The research follows 240 people who were under 18 during the attacks to understand how trauma is passed down and how families rebuild. The project combines interviews, hormonal analyses, and cognitive tests to assess resilience.
Preliminary results show that children who lost one or both parents face a higher risk of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, though some developed remarkable strength. “The trauma also brought some families closer,” says Guillery. “We want to understand how they managed to recover.”
Experts note that the effects of November 13 are far from over: they resurface every year during commemorations and as survivors start their own families. “A traumatic event becomes part of our identity,” says Guillery. “The challenge is to integrate it without letting it destroy you.”
A second phase of the study will examine the children of survivors born after 2015 to explore whether trauma can be transmitted genetically. Ten years on, France continues to grapple with the invisible scars of the Paris attacks that changed the nation — and the world — forever.
