“The war is here!” anxiety, trauma centrality, and the mediating role of daily stressors in Romanian and Ukrainian civilians.

Abstract

Objective: The present study investigated the level of anxiety among Ukrainian and Romanian civilians brought about by the war that started in Ukraine on February 24, 2022, using a model for the impact of traumatic experiences. We aimed to test the mediating effect of daily stressors on the relationships between trauma centrality and anxiety. Method: The research was conducted on a sample of 720 people (24.3% males and 75.7% females, M age = 35.61, SD = 12.59). Participants were civilians who lived either in Ukraine or outside Ukraine but at a maximum distance of 100 km from the border when the conflict started. They filled out questionnaires that measure anxiety, trauma centrality-indicating how central an event is to an individual's identity and life story, and daily stressors-predisposing factor for negative mental health outcomes. Results: The outcomes highlighted the direct relationship between trauma centrality and anxiety, but also the mediating effect of daily stressors on the aforementioned relationships (in the overall sample, Ukrainian sample, and Romanian sample). Our research also underlined that there are significant differences in anxiety levels between people who have children and those who do not (in the overall sample and the Ukrainian sample, but not among Romanian civilians). Conclusions: The present work contributes by enhancing knowledge about the relationships between trauma centrality, daily stressors, and anxiety within a war context, and the particularization of Carlson and Dalenberg's model (2000) in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. Clinical Impact StatementThe Ukraine-Russia war has significant psychological implications for the population, necessitating concentrated efforts through public policies and beyond to provide support. Specifically, targeted programs should be implemented to address the mental health needs of individuals directly or indirectly affected by this conflict.

Do relationships with parents determine citizens’ reactions to war trauma?

“…The threats related to the ongoing wars in the world and in Europe force political and social decision-makers to devote more space to psychoeducation, what trauma is, especially war trauma, and how to deal with the psychosocial disorders it triggers. Our study is consistent with those showing connections between attachment styles and reactions such as PTSD and PTG (Romeo et al, 2019), as well as between experiencing a sense of threat in various spheres of everyday life, indirectly related to the ongoing war in Ukraine (Catani et al, 2023;Huțul et al, 2023;Spence et al, 2019).…”

“…One may also expe-rience suffering during wartime as a result of empathically accompanying the suffering of others or witnessing someone's suffering by virtue of one's profession. The common feature of these experiences is their centrality, that is, their current importance to the subject, linked to the degree of frustration of the sufferer's most important needs (Catani et al, 2023;Huțul et al, 2023;Ryan & Deci, 2000;Senejko, 2019).…”

“…Individuals' health during wartime and susceptibility to PTSD can also be affected by so-called daily stressors, referring to the challenges of daily life, stressful events such as unemployment, temporary housing, health problems, and learning problems (Catani et al, 2023;Huțul et al, 2023;Spence et al, 2019). The results of research on the current war in Ukraine involving both civilian victims from Ukraine and Romanians from areas bordering Ukraine confirm the validity of this perspective (Huțul et al, 2023). Negative changes in the area of mental health, including PTSD, have also been reported by researchers among civilians in the countries neighboring the war, especially in border areas (Kaniasty et al, 2023).…”

War’s unseen wounds: Physical proximity to the war, event centrality, and PTSD symptoms in the context of Russian–Ukrainian armed conflict: A moderating model.

“…As previously discussed, given that event centrality constitutes a focal point of an individual's identity (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006, 2007Rubin et al, 2008), it is imperative to deeply investigate the interplay between these dimensions and the manifestations of traumatic stress in a context, such as the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, from multiple perspectives. First, the response to trauma in this specific context could be comprehensively understood; in particular, previous data emphasize that future research should focus on exploring and discussing the link between event centrality and traumatic stress (Huțul et al, 2023). Second, exploring the link between event centrality and specific cluster of PTSD symptoms could contribute to the identification of the specific risk and protective factors within the context of war-related PTSD.…”

Immediate mental health status of refugees during the Ukrainian armed conflict of 2022.

“…Since the beginning of the war in February 2022, numerous authors have expressed their deep concern about the mental health of the affected population (Almoshantaf et al, 2023; Awuah et al, 2022; Hamama-Raz et al, 2022; Huţul et al, 2023; Kimhi et al, 2023; Levin et al, 2023; Shoib et al, 2022). While not refugee-specific, these publications indicated the danger of “serious negative consequences for the mental health and well-being of Ukrainians” (Hamama-Raz et al, 2022, p. 100).…”