How Is the Fear of War Impacting Italian Young Adults’ Mental Health? The Mediating Role of Future Anxiety and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Abstract

The Russian–Ukrainian conflict is affecting mental health even in communities that are not directly involved in the war; added to this is the escalating conflict in the Middle East and its dangerous spread, which brings the war back to the center of the contemporary social and economic horizon. The present study aims to explore the psychological impact of war in a sample of 310 Italian young adults (18–30 years; M = 22.0; SD = 2.6) while exploring the relationship between Fear of War and psychological distress and evaluating the mediating effects of Future Anxiety and Intolerance of Uncertainty in this relation. Findings highlighted how Fear of War positively and significantly affects Stress, Anxiety, and Depression, and, at the same time, how it fuels both Future Anxiety and Intolerance of Uncertainty. These constructs, in addition to positively affecting the mental health outcomes considered, mediate the relationship between Fear of War and youth psychological distress with a significant indirect effect observed in all three mediation models performed. Finally, significantly higher levels of psychological distress, Fear of War, and Future Anxiety are reported in women than in men. The findings are discussed with reference to the recent literature on the psychological impact of war and on contemporary youth psychological distress, indicating the importance of educational policies and targeted interventions aimed at supporting this target in coping with multiple contemporary collective stressors.

Serial Mediation Models of Future Anxiety and Italian Young Adults Psychological Distress: The Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty and Non-Pathological Worry

“…If specific contextual factors that affect the representation of young people’s future and hinder the transition to adulthood have long been reported in the literature [ 7 , 9 , 12 , 14 ], more recently it has been highlighted that even collective events with traumatic potential—such as the COVID-19 pandemic, wars, and the climate crisis—are fueling the Dark Future time perspective [ 48 , 49 , 50 ].…”

“…Regardless of the type of stressor, subjects who do not tolerate uncertainty or who experience it negatively are more at risk of experiencing forms of psychological distress, especially in the internalizing sphere [ 55 ]. Not only that, as revealed more recently, Intolerance of Uncertainty can also fuel the impact of collective traumatic events on psychological distress [ 49 , 56 ].…”

“…Similarly, research carried out in other cultural contexts is in line with the above-mentioned findings and confirms the positive and significant association between Future Anxiety and psychological distress (stress, anxiety, and depression) while also highlighting significant gender differences in Future Anxiety levels [ 46 , 47 ]. Recent research has also explored the relationship between Future Anxiety, collective phenomena with trauma potential (e.g., pandemic, war) and psychological distress and highlighted its function as a risk factor in exacerbating the impact of such events on mental health [ 20 , 48 , 49 , 50 ].…”

“…Moreover, other studies have shown how it constitutes a trans-diagnostic factor for psychopathological frameworks of the internalizing sphere, including obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, depression, and eating disorders [ 55 ]. More recently, it has been found that Intolerance of Uncertainty can not only be powered by stressful external events—such as a pandemic or war—but that it also enhances the impact of such events on mental health, as does Future Anxiety [ 49 , 56 ]. Recently, Yang et al [ 57 ] explored the relationship between future perspective and Intolerance of Uncertainty and found that more future-oriented people were able to set long-term goals more easily and had greater self-control as well as lower levels of Intolerance of Uncertainty.…”