The DOI matches its Crossref record; 35 of the 35 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Health-related Internet habits and health anxiety in university students
Abstract
Health-related Internet use has grown rapidly, yet little research has considered how health anxious individuals use the Internet for this purpose. Our aim was to examine the relationships between health anxiety and the extent of, reasons for, and consequences of health-related Internet usage in university students (n = 255). Responses on a purpose-made Internet use questionnaire were correlated with health anxiety scores; multiple regression analyses controlling for depression and anxiety were also conducted. Health anxiety positively correlated with (all ps < .01): frequency of health-related searching (r(s) = .163), proportion of health-related information sought (r(s) = .200), time spent online for health purposes (r(s) = .166), and number of searches for both illness (r(s) = .453) and wellness (r(s) = .208) information. Health anxiety further positively correlated with advantages perceived in health-related Internet use (r(s) = .183), heightened tension (r(s) = .364) and relief (r(s) = .174) post-search, and perceived doctor disadvantages (r(s) = .306), yet a greater likelihood to visit a doctor post-search (r(s) = .217). Health anxiety also correlated with six measures of possible addiction to using the Internet for health purposes (r(s) range = .171 to .366, all ps < .01). Some (including several potentially dysfunctional) aspects of health-related Internet use correlate with health anxiety. Research evaluating the possible role of Internet use in the development and maintenance of health anxiety is warranted.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“However, there is also evidence of detrimental effects, such as an increase in worries or (health) anxiety, and as a consequence, an increase in the use of health care resources [11,12]”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Moreover, Singh and Brown [11] found significant positive correlations between HA and 6 indicators of addiction to health-related internet use (inter alia, unsuccessfully trying to cut back, negative feelings regarding a real or anticipated loss, negative consequences, and increasing use over time).”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Besides the reported results confirming the postulated negative emotional consequences of health-related internet use, it should be noted that positive emotional consequences were also found, such as relief and calm [1,11,90].”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
In the citing paper
“Singh and Brown [11] found a medium correlation between HA and the likelihood of visiting a physician after the search (r=0.22; P<.01).”
From Conceptualizations of cyberchondria and relations to the anxiety spectrum: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2021) · cites this paper as [11]
Citations
Cites
Tabachnick, B. G., & Fidell, L. S. (1983) · Cited by 79,882
The PHQ-9: Validity of a brief depression severity measure
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. W. (2001) · Journal of General Internal Medicine · doi:10.1046/j.1525-1497.2001.016009606.x · Cited by 44,910
A Brief Measure for Assessing Generalized Anxiety Disorder: The GAD-7
Spitzer, R. L., Kroenke, K., Williams, J. B. W., & Löwe, B. (2006) · Archives of Internal Medicine · doi:10.1001/archinte.166.10.1092 · Cited by 31,765
(2007) · Cited by 10,092
Internet Addiction: The Emergence of a New Clinical Disorder
YOUNG, K. S. (1998) · CyberPsychology & Behavior · doi:10.1089/cpb.1998.1.237 · Cited by 5,513
Löwe, B., Decker, O., Müller, S., Brähler, E., Schellberg, D., Herzog, W., & Herzberg, P. Y. (2008) · Medical Care · doi:10.1097/mlr.0b013e318160d093 · Cited by 4,527
The PHQ-15: Validity of a New Measure for Evaluating the Severity of Somatic Symptoms
Kroenke, K., Spitzer, R. L., & Williams, J. B. W. (2002) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/00006842-200203000-00008 · Cited by 3,415
SALKOVSKIS, P. M., RIMES, K. A., WARWICK, H. M. C., & CLARK, D. M. (2002) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291702005822 · Cited by 1,351
The Delivery of Public Health Interventions via the Internet: Actualizing Their Potential
Bennett, G. G., & Glasgow, R. E. (2009) · Annual Review of Public Health · doi:10.1146/annurev.publhealth.031308.100235 · Cited by 800
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Items 101–112 of 112
Googling as avoidance: anxiety responses to online health information about long COVID
Herlitz, J., Pohl, A., & Gerlach, A. (2025) · Anxiety, Stress, & Coping · doi:10.1080/10615806.2025.2551018
“…that people with higher compared to lower health anxiety use the internet more frequently and longer for the search of health information and feel more tensed, distressed, and worried about their own health afterwards (e.g., Baumgartner & Hartmann, 2011; Muse et al., 2012; Singh & Brown, 2014).”
Lapitan, E., Harsora, R., Haggerty, K. R., & Arigo, D. (2025) · Journal of American College Health · doi:10.1080/07448481.2025.2563028 · Cited by 2
“55 Together, these findings remain consistent with the notion that intolerance of uncertainty contributes to health-specific anxiety, such as illness anxiety and possible Internet addiction for health purposes specifically.”
Welton‐Mitchell, C., Dally, M. J., Dickinson, K. L., Morris-Neuberger, L., Roberts, J. D., & Blanch‐Hartigan, D. (2024) · Figshare · doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.26603392
Dharshini, R., Sharma, M. K., Anand, N., & Srivastava, K. (2025) · Indian Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.4103/indianjpsychiatry_561_24 · Cited by 1
“[5] Since Cyberchondria scale is the most used scale in Indian context, it implicate the need to validate it in Indian context.”
EHealth Literacy in Patients with Urological Cancer: Cross-sectional Study (Preprint)Preprint
Speer, D., Karger, A., Schafer, R., Holsteg, S., Kreuznacht, L., Niegisch, G., Dinger, U., Gieselmann, A., & Fugmann, D. (2026) · doi:10.2196/preprints.92858
Examination of the relationship between adults’ sleep quality and cyberchondria levels
Ali, M. M. M., Köse, S., Vitale, E., & Chang, Y.-C. (2026) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-026-09237-9
“In this context, it is well-recognized that health anxiety is linked to online questioning of symptoms (Singh & Brown, 2014 ).”
Zucchelli, M. M., Pira, G. L., Ruini, C., & Nori, R. (2026) · Computers in Human Behavior Reports · doi:10.1016/j.chbr.2026.101122
Cyberchondria: Unraveling the Impact of Online Health Information on Health Anxiety
Adhvaryu, A., Sharma, M., Gyan Nihal, N., & Singh, R. (2026) · Indian Journal of Private Psychiatry · doi:10.5005/jp-journals-10067-0197
Suryawanshi, A. A., Garcha, V. P., Shetty, V. B., Ambildhok, K. A., Vinay, V., Lavekar, P. A., & Shaikh, S. S. A. (2026) · World Journal of Dentistry · doi:10.5005/jp-journals-10015-2936
Dawood, E., Monica, A., Abdullah, A., Alalyani, G., Alzhrani, N., Alqahtani, F., Ali, G. B., & Shereda, H. M. A. (2026) · Health Science Reports · doi:10.1002/hsr2.72981
“…clinical or preclinical, smoking status, present or past personal and family medical or psychiatric history, familial healthcare pro-fessions, and recent healthcare‐seeking behavior, in addition to repeated online symptom checking, which may also reinforce health concerns among students [16].”
Erkılıç, T. O., Bayraktar, B., & Taşci, S. Ç. (2026) · Behavioral Sciences · doi:10.3390/bs16101759
“Previous and current syntheses similarly emphasize that online health searching ranges from adaptive information acquisition to escalating threat-focused checking (Muse et al., 2012; Baumgartner & Hartmann, 2011; Singh & Brown, 2014; Mestre-Bach & Potenza, 2023; Yang & Xu, 2025).”
Bulduk, B., Bulduk, M., Can, V., ÜREN, Y., & Atan, G. (2026) · Journal of Pediatric Nursing · doi:10.1016/j.pedn.2026.10.028
Metadata
- Authors
- Singh, K., & Brown, R. J.
- Affiliations
- University of Manchester (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Singh, Karmpaul
- Venue
- Anxiety, Stress, & Coping
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-03-03
- Volume
- 27
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 542-554
- ISSN
- 1061-5806 (ISSN-L)
- 1477-2205
- OpenAlex
- W2064935992
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 9.05
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Anxiety Stress & Coping (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Explorer (The University of Manchester) (publishedVersion)
- 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 › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Keywords
- health anxiety, health-related internet use, university students, health information seeking, illness information, internet addiction
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Anxiety, Female, Habits, Humans, Hypochondriasis, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Male, Surveys and Questionnaires, Students, Universities, Health Behavior, Internet, Young Adult, Information Seeking Behavior
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
