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Population stressors, such as the Covid 19 pandemic, climate change, the Russian-Ukrainian war, or a tense economic situation, are putting a strain on the well-being and mental health of Western populations. To examine the impact of such stressors, our group has recently published a study on the impact of current crises on subclinical stress symptoms in the German population. This short communication utilizes data from the latest second wave of this study. It evaluates, as to whether the results from the first study are still valid for the current and rapid changes in these population stressors. As in the first wave, the Russian-Ukrainian war was still rated as the most worrisome. However, the burden of the Covid 19 pandemic remains the most important predictor for subclinical stress symptoms.

Background Climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Ukraine crisis are considered unprecedented global stressors, potentially associated with serious health consequences. However, simultaneous effects of these stressors are not yet understood, making it difficult to evaluate their relative contribution to the population burden and potential future manifestations in clinically significant psychiatric disorders. This study aimed at disentangling the relative contribution of the three stressor groups on current sub-clinical stress symptoms. Methods A cross-sectional, representative survey study was conducted two months after the outbreak of the Ukraine war in Germany. Proportional quota sampling was applied for age, gender, income, and regional characteristics. Data were recruited by means of an online survey. 3094 data sets (1560 females) were included. Age ranged from 18–89 (M: 50.4 years; SD: 17.2). The Subclinical Stress Questionnaire (SSQ-25) served as main outcome measure. In collaboration with a professional media agency, 20 items were generated to capture salient population stressors. A three-factor exploratory structural equation model confirmed the appropriateness of this scale. Results (1) Differences in subjective rankings revealed that stressors related to the Ukraine crisis were rated as most worrying, followed by climate change, and the Covid-19 pandemic (Generalized-Linear-Model: Epsilon = .97; F(1.94, 6001.14) = 1026.12, p ηp2 = .25). (2) In a linear regression model (R2 = .39), Covid-19 pandemic stressors were the only meaningful predictors for current ill-health (standardized β = .48). Ukraine crisis did not predict stress symptom profiles in the present sample. (3) Older and male individuals report less and/or less severe stress symptoms, although effect sizes were small (range: η2 .11—.21). An older age also reduced the impact of Covid-19 stressors. Conclusions Researchers from the health sciences must consider overlapping effects from population stressors. Although the Ukraine crisis and climate change mark salient stressors, including economic threats, the Covid-19 pandemic still has a profound effect on ill-health and must be considered as a relevant factor in future manifestations of psychiatric and associated health consequences.