Perceived stress related to the Russia-Ukraine war in nine Latin American countries

Large-scale geopolitical crises may generate psychological distress beyond populations directly exposed to violence, particularly through uncertainty, perceived lack of control, and indirect exposure to threatening information.

To determine the association between country of residence and perceived stress related to the Russia-Ukraine war among adults from nine Latin American countries.

A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted during March and April 2022. Perceived war-related stress was assessed using the validated nine-item War-Stress scale. Three binary outcomes were defined using the empirical upper tercile of the overall score and its two prespecified subcomponents: conflict-specific stress and external-factor stress. Adjusted prevalence ratios were estimated using Poisson regression models with robust variance, controlling for sex, age, and educational level.

The final analytical sample included 2,463 participants. The most frequently endorsed stress-related item was concern that the conflict could escalate into a larger war, with 29.72% agreeing and 19.57% strongly agreeing. In adjusted analyses, Argentina showed a higher prevalence of overall high war-related stress compared with Colombia (aPR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.33-2.25; p < 0.001) and also higher prevalence of high conflict-specific stress (aPR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.13-2.21; p = 0.008). For high external-factor stress, Argentina again showed the strongest association (aPR: 3.03; 95% CI: 2.30-3.99; p < 0.001), whereas Peru (aPR: 0.52; 95% CI: 0.38-0.73; p < 0.001) and Brazil (aPR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.28-0.90; p = 0.020) showed lower prevalence. Men consistently exhibited lower prevalence of high perceived stress across the three outcomes.

Perceived stress related to the Russia-Ukraine war varied across Latin American countries and was especially associated with external and anticipatory dimensions of the conflict. The findings support the relevance of studying indirect psychological responses to distant geopolitical crises in populations already exposed to broader social and post-pandemic vulnerabilities.