Threat of nuclear war related to increased anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms among adolescents.

Evidence on the relation between the threat of nuclear war and mental health among adolescents is conflicting. We studied 1493 adolescents in the 10th to 12th grades in school, who completed self-administered questionnaires 1-43 days before the Persian Gulf war broke out. Regression analyses controlled for several potential confounders. After this, the frequency of thinking about nuclear war and the frequency of fearing nuclear war were positively related to perceived present state anxiety among both boys and girls. Among boys, both thinking and fearing were positively related to the psychosomatic symptom score. Among girls, estimates on deaths due to nuclear war associated significantly with psychosomatic symptoms. Long-term effects of the threat of nuclear war on mental health of adolescents merit further study.