ArticleBMC public health2026
War-related and psychological predictors of experiential and physiological fear of war in Germany: findings from a nationally representative survey.
Article in BMC public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFear of war has emerged as a relevant psychosocial phenomenon in Europe, yet little is known about factors associated with its experiential and physiological dimensions in representative populations. This study examined sociodemographic, war-related, and psychological predictors of experiential and physiological fear of war in Germany.
methodData were drawn from a nationally representative cross-sectional survey of German-speaking individuals aged 16 years and older (N = 2,530). Fear of war was assessed using the Fear of War Scale (FOWARS). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted separately for experiential and physiological fear of war, entering sociodemographic, psychological, and war-related variables in three theory-driven blocks.
resultsParticipants reported moderate levels of experiential fear of war (M = 3.54, SD = 0.99), whereas physiological fear was lower on average (M = 2.24, SD = 1.12). The final models explained 9% of the variance in experiential fear of war and 11% of the variance in physiological fear of war. War-related salience emerged as a key correlate of experiential fear, particularly when participants referred to a specific war, a global/world war, or nuclear war. In contrast, physiological fear showed clearer associations with indicators of psychological vulnerability, including childhood adversity, lower interpersonal trust, and emotion regulation variables. Overall, the findings supported differential predictor patterns across experiential and physiological fear. Women and older individuals reported higher fear levels. Sensitivity analyses using an ordinal salience variable supported the robustness of the findings.
conclusionsFear of war appears to reflect an interplay between war-related salience and individual vulnerability. Distinguishing experiential and physiological fear responses may improve understanding of psychosocial reactions to geopolitical crises and contribute to public mental health monitoring and risk communication.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.