Daily stressors have been shown to mediate the relationship of war trauma and trauma-related distress among refugees and internally displaced persons exposed to war and conflict.

To examine the extent to which the relationship between war-related trauma and mental distress was mediated by daily stressors and collective efficacy among internally displaced communities a decade after exposure to war.

In a cross-sectional study, we recruited a random sample of residents in villages severely affected by conflict in five districts in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Measures of war trauma, daily stressors, collective efficacy and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) were examined. Statistical analyses of the mediating and moderating effects of daily stressors were conducted using regression based methods.

Daily stressors mediated the association of war trauma and PTSS, as both paths of the indirect effect, war trauma to daily stressors and daily stressors to PTSS, were significant. The predictive effect of war trauma on PTSS was positive and significant at moderate and high levels of daily stressors but not at low levels. Higher levels of neighbourhood informal social control, a component of collective efficacy, function as a protective factor to reduce effects of war trauma and daily stressors on mental distress in this population.

Daily stressors are an important mediator in the well-established relationship between war exposure and traumatic stress among internally displaced persons, even a decade after the conflict. Mental health and psychosocial support programmes that aim to address mental distress among war-affected communities could reduce daily stressors and enhance collective efficacy in this context.

Although older adults often experience negative life events or loss experiences, they rarely experience large decreases in their quality of life or well-being. Emotionally satisfying relationships in older adults may serve as a protective factor that reduces the impact of negative events in decreasing well-being. The availability of these close social contacts is essential, and their potential for alleviating feelings of loneliness after negative events could have an important role in promoting well-being. The aim of this study was to test the hypothetical moderation and mediation effects of social and emotional loneliness on the occurrence of negative old-age life events and well-being in later life.

This was a cross-sectional survey conducted as part of the Detection, Support and Care for older people – Prevention and Empowerment research project (2015–2018).

Participants were community-dwelling older adults in Flanders (Belgium).

The sample composed of 770 participants aged 60 years and over.

Participant demographics, social and emotional loneliness, and subjective well-being were measured. Moderation and mediation analyses were performed using the regression-based approach as conducted by Hayes and Rockwood (2017).

Results indicated that a low degree of (social) loneliness is a protective, moderating factor and (emotional) loneliness is a mediating factor on the effects of negative life events on well-being in later life.

Findings highlight the importance of emotionally and socially satisfying social contacts in order to maintain positive subjective well-being in later life when negative life events may occur.