Association between Health Anxiety, Smartphone Addiction, and Cyberchondria

Abstract

Introduction: Online health information seeking is one of the single most popular platforms in which people gather health-related information. Many sources provide ambiguous and unauthorized health information, which is part of the digital era. Cyberchondria refers to prolonged and repetitive online health searches and negative emotional and physiological responses that occur due to online searches. Health anxiety due to COVID-19 also contributed to online health information seeking. This current study assesses the association between health anxiety and smartphone use with cyberchondria among young adults. Methods: The study sample consisted of 356 individuals aged 18–25 years. We used an online survey for study participants with the Cyberchondria severity scale-12 (CSS-12), Health Anxiety Questionnaire, and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version. Results: The mean age of participants was 22 years (standard deviation: 2.13). Sixty-two percent of participants used the information obtained by the online platform to diagnose themselves. Excessiveness was more among all other subscales of cyberchondria. The results of linear regression analysis indicated that health anxiety (P < 0.001) and smartphone addiction (P < 0.001) significantly contributed to cyberchondria. Conclusion: This study shows the association between health anxiety and smartphone addiction with cyberchondria. This finding implies the need for a community-level conscientization on cyberchondria. There is a need to carry out promotional and preventive programs regarding the health usage of technology.

Keywords

• cyberchondria
• health anxiety
• online health information seeking
• problematic technology usage
• smartphone addiction