diff --git a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
index 2bff9468824..2094e12dc32 100644
--- a/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/kernel/qcoreapplication.cpp
@@ -503,7 +503,7 @@ void QCoreApplicationPrivate::cleanupThreadData()
         const auto locker = qt_scoped_lock(thisThreadData->postEventList.mutex);
         for (const QPostEvent &pe : std::as_const(thisThreadData->postEventList)) {
             if (pe.event) {
-                --pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents;
+                pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndSubAcquire(1);
                 pe.event->m_posted = false;
                 delete pe.event;
             }
@@ -1660,7 +1660,7 @@ void QCoreApplication::postEvent(QObject *receiver, QEvent *event, int priority)
     QThreadData *data = locker.threadData;
 
     // if this is one of the compressible events, do compression
-    if (receiver->d_func()->postedEvents
+    if (receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.loadAcquire()
         && self && self->compressEvent(event, receiver, &data->postEventList)) {
         Q_TRACE(QCoreApplication_postEvent_event_compressed, receiver, event);
         return;
@@ -1673,7 +1673,7 @@ void QCoreApplication::postEvent(QObject *receiver, QEvent *event, int priority)
     data->postEventList.addEvent(QPostEvent(receiver, event, priority));
     Q_UNUSED(eventDeleter.release());
     event->m_posted = true;
-    ++receiver->d_func()->postedEvents;
+    receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndAddRelease(1);
     data->canWait = false;
     locker.unlock();
 
@@ -1774,7 +1774,8 @@ void QCoreApplicationPrivate::sendPostedEvents(QObject *receiver, int event_type
     // events, canWait will be set to false.
     data->canWait = (data->postEventList.size() == 0);
 
-    if (data->postEventList.size() == 0 || (receiver && !receiver->d_func()->postedEvents)) {
+    if (data->postEventList.size() == 0
+            || (receiver && !receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.loadAcquire())) {
         --data->postEventList.recursion;
         return;
     }
@@ -1903,7 +1904,7 @@ void QCoreApplicationPrivate::sendPostedEvents(QObject *receiver, int event_type
         QEvent *e = pe.event;
         QObject * r = pe.receiver;
 
-        --r->d_func()->postedEvents;
+        r->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndSubAcquire(1);
         Q_ASSERT(r->d_func()->postedEvents >= 0);
 
         // next, update the data structure so that we're ready
@@ -1954,7 +1955,7 @@ void QCoreApplication::removePostedEvents(QObject *receiver, int eventType)
     // happen while the event loop is in the middle of posting events,
     // and when we get here, we may not have any more posted events
     // for this object.
-    if (receiver && !receiver->d_func()->postedEvents)
+    if (receiver && !receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.loadAcquire())
         return;
 
     //we will collect all the posted events for the QObject
@@ -1968,7 +1969,7 @@ void QCoreApplication::removePostedEvents(QObject *receiver, int eventType)
 
         if ((!receiver || pe.receiver == receiver)
             && (pe.event && (eventType == 0 || pe.event->type() == eventType))) {
-            --pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents;
+            pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndSubAcquire(1);
             pe.event->m_posted = false;
             events.append(pe.event);
             const_cast<QPostEvent &>(pe).event = nullptr;
@@ -2029,7 +2030,7 @@ void QCoreApplicationPrivate::removePostedEvent(QEvent * event)
                      pe.receiver->metaObject()->className(),
                      pe.receiver->objectName().toLocal8Bit().data());
 #endif
-            --pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents;
+            pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndSubAcquire(1);
             pe.event->m_posted = false;
             delete pe.event;
             const_cast<QPostEvent &>(pe).event = nullptr;
diff --git a/src/corelib/kernel/qobject.cpp b/src/corelib/kernel/qobject.cpp
index 2a1391f1d52..7c179c4bde5 100644
--- a/src/corelib/kernel/qobject.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/kernel/qobject.cpp
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ QObjectPrivate::QObjectPrivate(int version)
     isDeletingChildren = false;                 // set by deleteChildren()
     sendChildEvents = true;                     // if we should send ChildAdded and ChildRemoved events to parent
     receiveChildEvents = true;
-    postedEvents = 0;
+    postedEvents.storeRelaxed(0);
     extraData = nullptr;
     metaObject = nullptr;
     isWindow = false;
@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ QObjectPrivate::~QObjectPrivate()
         }
     }
 
-    if (postedEvents)
+    if (postedEvents.loadRelaxed())
         QCoreApplication::removePostedEvents(q_ptr, 0);
 
     thisThreadData->deref();
diff --git a/src/corelib/thread/qthread.cpp b/src/corelib/thread/qthread.cpp
index 61294deee25..5af1787fb11 100644
--- a/src/corelib/thread/qthread.cpp
+++ b/src/corelib/thread/qthread.cpp
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ QThreadData::~QThreadData()
     for (qsizetype i = 0; i < postEventList.size(); ++i) {
         const QPostEvent &pe = postEventList.at(i);
         if (pe.event) {
-            --pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents;
+            pe.receiver->d_func()->postedEvents.fetchAndSubRelaxed(1);
             pe.event->m_posted = false;
             delete pe.event;
         }