Stressful Life Events and Chronic Stressors as Predictors of Psychopathological Conditions in the WMH-ICS Initiative

Stressful life events (SLEs) and chronic stressors are established risk factors for psychopathology, yet their bidirectional associations with psychopathological conditions remain understudied among university students.

To examine whether prior lifetime psychopathological conditions predict subsequent exposure to 12-month SLEs and current chronic stressors, andwhether these stressors predict 12-month onset and persistence of psychopathological conditions among incoming university students.

Data were from the World Mental Health International College Student Initiative. Web-based surveys at 77 universitiesin 18 countries assessed prior lifetime psychopathological conditions, SLEs, chronic stressors, mental disorders, non-suicidal self-injury, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors among first-year students (n=60,673).Poisson regression models estimated reciprocal associations of stressors with prior psychopathological conditions.

Exposure to recent stressors was highly prevalent: 72.9% reported one or more 12-month SLEs, and 46.1% reported one or more current chronic stressors. Relationships of psychopathological conditions with stressors were largely positive and reciprocal. Population-attributable risk proportions (PARPs)for stressors predicting lifetime first onsets of psychopathological conditions occurring in the 12 months before the survey were 17.0-35.8% across conditions for SLEs, 10.9-34.9% for chronic stressors, and 29.9-51.4% for either SLEs or chronic stressors. Comparable PARPs predicting 12-month persistence of psychopathological conditions were 3.8-30.0% across conditions for SLEs, 5.8-22.0% for chronic stressors, and 10.1-44.6% for eitherSLEs or chronic stressors.

These findings highlight the prevalence of stressors among university students and suggest that prevention and early intervention efforts should focus on reducing exposure to these stressors and/or their psychological effects.