Anxiety, war exposure trauma and the mediating role of daily stressors in Romanian and Ukrainian civilians

Abstract In this study, we want to point out the negative psychological impact on the population brought about by the war that started in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. In this research, we aimed to test for the mediating effect of daily stressors on the relationships between the centrality of the event and anxiety, respectively between the impact of the event and anxiety. The study was conducted on a sample of 738 people, the participants being individuals who lived either in Ukraine or outside Ukraine, but at a maximum distance of 100 km from the border (in Romania) when the conflict started. The results highlighted the mediating effect of daily stressors on the aforementioned relationships. At the end of the paper, we will list a number of limitations of the present study, as well as offer suggestions for future research.