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The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria

Cyberchondria is a dysfunctional behavioral pattern characterized by an excessive and anxiety-amplifying engagement in searching for reassuring health information on the Internet. Research demonstrated that somatic symptoms and health anxiety might foster maladaptive health-related behaviors, such a...

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Autores principales: Santoro, Gianluca, Starcevic, Vladan, Scalone, Andrea, Cavallo, Josephin, Musetti, Alessandro, Schimmenti, Adriano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36143275
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm12091490
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author Santoro, Gianluca
Starcevic, Vladan
Scalone, Andrea
Cavallo, Josephin
Musetti, Alessandro
Schimmenti, Adriano
author_facet Santoro, Gianluca
Starcevic, Vladan
Scalone, Andrea
Cavallo, Josephin
Musetti, Alessandro
Schimmenti, Adriano
author_sort Santoro, Gianluca
collection PubMed
description Cyberchondria is a dysfunctional behavioral pattern characterized by an excessive and anxiety-amplifying engagement in searching for reassuring health information on the Internet. Research demonstrated that somatic symptoms and health anxiety might foster maladaptive health-related behaviors, such as cyberchondria. However, the relationships between somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and cyberchondria have been scarcely examined. Accordingly, this study aimed to test the mediating effect of health anxiety on the association between somatic symptoms and cyberchondria. Four hundred and thirty-one adults from the community (158 males, 36.66%), aged between 18 and 74, were recruited via an online survey. Participants completed self-report measures of somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and cyberchondria. A mediation analysis demonstrated that the severity of somatic symptoms predicted increased levels of cyberchondria and that health anxiety partially mediated this association. Therefore, interventions aimed at decreasing health anxiety may also play a role in decreasing the risk of developing cyberchondria.
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spelling pubmed-95045092022-09-24 The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria Santoro, Gianluca Starcevic, Vladan Scalone, Andrea Cavallo, Josephin Musetti, Alessandro Schimmenti, Adriano J Pers Med Article Cyberchondria is a dysfunctional behavioral pattern characterized by an excessive and anxiety-amplifying engagement in searching for reassuring health information on the Internet. Research demonstrated that somatic symptoms and health anxiety might foster maladaptive health-related behaviors, such as cyberchondria. However, the relationships between somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and cyberchondria have been scarcely examined. Accordingly, this study aimed to test the mediating effect of health anxiety on the association between somatic symptoms and cyberchondria. Four hundred and thirty-one adults from the community (158 males, 36.66%), aged between 18 and 74, were recruited via an online survey. Participants completed self-report measures of somatic symptoms, health anxiety, and cyberchondria. A mediation analysis demonstrated that the severity of somatic symptoms predicted increased levels of cyberchondria and that health anxiety partially mediated this association. Therefore, interventions aimed at decreasing health anxiety may also play a role in decreasing the risk of developing cyberchondria. MDPI 2022-09-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9504509/ /pubmed/36143275 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm12091490 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Santoro, Gianluca
Starcevic, Vladan
Scalone, Andrea
Cavallo, Josephin
Musetti, Alessandro
Schimmenti, Adriano
The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title_full The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title_fullStr The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title_full_unstemmed The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title_short The Doctor Is In(ternet): The Mediating Role of Health Anxiety in the Relationship between Somatic Symptoms and Cyberchondria
title_sort doctor is in(ternet): the mediating role of health anxiety in the relationship between somatic symptoms and cyberchondria
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504509/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36143275
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jpm12091490
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