Concern about the threat of nuclear war: Just another worry?

Abstract

Abstract Concern and worry about the possibility of nuclear war has been seen as posing a particular threat to the mental health of vulnerable individuals. Alternatively, it has been proposed that people who worry about nuclear war “worry about everything”, suggesting that the risk to mental health caused specifically by worry about nuclear war is not special or unique in any way. The present study was designed to investigate whether a group selected on the basis of a high level of worry about nuclear war did “worry about everything”. Questionnaire responses to ten items of contemporary concern, including the possibility of nuclear war, were used to define from a larger population two groups, with high and low levels of worry about nuclear war respectively. Between-group analysis revealed that the group worried about the possibility of nuclear war did worry more generally, and had higher scores on measures of anxiety and depression. However, further analysis suggested that worry about nuclear war could not be explained simply by higher levels of anxiety and depression. Further, in the worried group, the level of worry about nuclear war was always highest; while those not worried about nuclear war were, by contrast, not worried about most things. It is concluded that there may be some truth in the view that those who worry about nuclear war worry about everything, but that worry about nuclear war may be qualitatively different from other concerns. It may be unwise to dismiss prematurely the possibility that the threat of nuclear war does have an unique effect on mental health.