Cyberchondria, Reassurance Seeking Behavior and Problematic Internet Use among Young Adults

Abstract

The current study investigated the relationship between cyberchondria, reassurance seeking and problematic internet use among young adults. It was hypothesized that there is a significant positive relationship among Cyberchondria Reassurance Seeking Behaviour and Problematic Internet Use. The data was collected from 300 participants (n1= 150 Men, n2= 150 Women). For the purpose of data collection Cyberchondria Severity Scale, Reassurance Seeking Questionnaire and Problematic Internet Use Scale (Demetrovics et al; 2008) were used. Data was analyzed on SPSS and the analysis included Demographic information of participants, Psychometric properties of the scales, correlation analysis, linear regression analysis and independent t-test analysis. Results showed that Cyberchondria scale, Reassurance Seeking Behaviour scale and Problematic Internet use scale showed good reliabilities, Pearson product moment correlation showed that there is a significant positive relationship among cyberchondria, reassurance seeking behaviour and problematic internet use. Linear regression revealed that Cyberchondria is a significant positive predictor of reassurance seeking behaviour and problematic internet use. The Independent t- test showed no significant gender differences between cyberchondria, reassurance seeking behaviour and problematic internet use among young adults. Therefore, the overall findings indicate that study is beneficial for health care professionals for creating awareness among youth to overcome their health-related anxiety by relying on authentic medical advice than constantly seeking reassurance through internet.