2026-10-13T23:51:50Z https://api.figshare.com/v2/oai

oai:figshare.com:article/34021515 2026-09-29T05:53:42Z category_427 portal_316 item_type_3 month_year_09_2026

Data Sheet 1_Living with uncertainty: associations of personal and environmental uncertainty, resilience, and self-efficacy with anxiety symptoms in young adults.pdf Annina Zysset (3619205) Matthew J Kerry (25135629) Julia Dratva (748527) Public Health and Health Services not elsewhere classified anxiety symptoms collective efficacy intolerance of uncertainty polycrisis public mental health resilience self-efficacy young adults Background<p>Anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent among young adults and remain a major public mental health concern, with national data showing a marked increase during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contrary to expectations, anxiety rates did not decline after the pandemic ended. Persistent high anxiety levels may be contextually linked to an accumulation of concurrent global challenges, including climate change and geopolitical conflicts, that have been described as a “polycrisis” and are characterized by pervasive uncertainty. However, this framework was not directly examined in the present study. This study investigated the association between uncertainty, anxiety symptoms, resilience, and self-efficacy among university students.</p>Methods<p>We used two datasets collected in Switzerland: a repeated cross-sectional pandemic study conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic (April 2020 to April 2023), and a post-pandemic cross-sectional study conducted in Fall 2023. First, general linear models were used to examine the trend of anxiety from Spring 2020–Fall 2023, combining data from both studies (N_wave= 1,158). Second, using data from the post-pandemic study (N = 1,001), a hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the relationship between uncertainty, self-efficacy and resilience with anxiety symptoms, and to test for moderation effects of self-efficacy and resilience on the uncertainty–anxiety relationship.</p>Results<p>A general linear model exhibited significantly better for a quadratic function compared to a linear function, suggesting an increase in anxiety followed by a saturation-plateau post-COVID-19 [β = −0.02, 95% CI (−0.03, −0.01)]. Regression results supported independent relationships [R(anxiety)2 = 39%], such that uncertainty positively was associated with anxiety [β = 0.50, CI (0.44, 0.56)], whereas self-efficacy [β = −0.22, 95% CI (−0.29, −0.15)], and resilience [β = −0.08, 95% CI (−0.29, −0.03)] were negatively associated. Moderation results were non-significant.</p>Conclusion<p>Our findings highlight that uncertainty may play a role in sustaining high levels of anxiety among university students. Although high self-efficacy and resilience did not modify the relationship between uncertainty and anxiety symptoms, they were independently associated with lower anxiety levels. Addressing both global and specific facets of uncertainty appears to be highly relevant when designing targeted interventions to support mental health in young adults, particularly university students.</p> 2026-09-29T05:53:42Z Dataset Dataset 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1932199.s001 https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Data_Sheet_1_Living_with_uncertainty_associations_of_personal_and_environmental_uncertainty_resilience_and_self-efficacy_with_anxiety_symptoms_in_young_adults_pdf/34021515 CC BY 4.0