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

Introduction: 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. Objective: 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. Method: 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. Results: 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. Discussion and Conclusion: 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.