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Cyberchondria and its Relationships with Related Constructs: a Network Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Cyberchondria denotes repeated online searches for health information that are associated with increasing levels of health anxiety. The aims of this study were to apply network analysis to investigate the extent to which cyberchondria is a distinct construct, ascertain which of the related constructs have the strongest relationships with cyberchondria and investigate whether some of the symptoms of cyberchondria are more central to the construct of cyberchondria. Questionnaires assessing the severity of cyberchondria, health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, problematic Internet use, anxiety, depression and somatic symptoms were administered to 751 participants who searched for health information online during a previous 3-month period and were recruited from an online crowdsourcing platform. Network analyses were used to compute the networks, perform community detection tests and calculate centrality indices. Results suggest that cyberchondria is a relatively specific syndrome-like construct, distinct from all related constructs and consisting of interrelated symptoms. It has the strongest relationships with problematic Internet use and health anxiety. No symptom of cyberchondria emerged clearly as more central to the construct of cyberchondria. Future research should aim to deepen our understanding of cyberchondria and its links with psychopathology, especially its close relationship with problematic Internet use.
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“The four-factor structure was also found in a network analysis [42] that additionally revealed that no symptom seemed to be more central to the cyberchondria construct than others.”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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“Besides, Starcevic et al [42] found a stronger relationship between cyberchondria and problematic internet use than with HA.”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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“However, their network analysis showed that cyberchondria and problematic internet use were related but distinct constructs.”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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“This finding of distinctness of both constructs was confirmed by a network analysis by Starcevic et al [42].”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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“An association was confirmed by mainly medium-sized correlations (Multimedia Appendix 1), and a network analysis also revealed that both constructs were distinct [42].”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [42]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Starcevic, V., Baggio, S., Berle, D., Khazaal, Y., & Viswasam, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Geneva (CH)
- University of Technology Sydney (AU)
- University Hospital of Geneva (CH)
- Nepean Hospital (AU)
- Venue
- Psychiatric Quarterly
- Published
- 2019-05-16
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 491-505
- ISSN
- 0033-2720 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-6709
- OpenAlex
- W2945039564
- Cited by
- 135
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 20 · 2025: 20 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 26 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 17
- FWCI
- 18.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Psychiatric Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (acceptedVersion, other-oa)
- BORIS (University Library Bern) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Open Access CRIS of the University of Bern
- Funders
- National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT1122203)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- cyberchondria, health anxiety, problematic internet use, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, intolerance of uncertainty, online health information seeking, depression, somatic symptoms, symptom network structure, construct distinctiveness
- MeSH terms
- Anxiety, Depression, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Surveys and Questionnaires, Cluster Analysis, Behavior, Addictive, Internet, Uncertainty, Consumer Health Information
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