Connecting chronic stress and anxiety: a multi-dimensional perspective

ABSTRACT

Studies show a connection between anxiety and stress, but with little differentiation between different domains of stress. In this article, we utilize a multi-dimensional approach to better understand the relationship between different chronic stress domains and anxiety. This will allow researchers to identify and address those areas of stress that are most relevant with regard to anxiety. We used data from a sub sample of the LIFE-Adult-Study (n = 1085) to analyze the association between nine different areas of chronic stress (Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress, TICS) and anxiety (General Anxiety Disorder 7, GAD-7), controlling for sociodemographic variables, personality, and social support. There was a significant and positive association between Work Overload, Pressure to Perform, Social Tensions, Social Isolation, Chronic Worrying, and anxiety. After including the control variables, only Work Overload and Chronic Worrying remained significant. By focusing on Work Overload and Chronic Worrying researchers, practitioners, and policy makers can help to mitigate anxiety and related health problems in the population in an efficient way.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic stress
• anxiety
• TICS
• GAD-7
• public mental health

Acknowledgements

We thank the research teams and the participants of the LIFE-Adult-Study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics statement

The LIFE-Adult-Study complies with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Leipzig University.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

LIFE is funded by means of the European Union, by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by funds of the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative (project numbers 713-241202, 14505/2470, 14575/2470).