Abstract
The present paper focuses on the effects of personality traits on the levels of Internet addiction and cyberchondria and their consequent effects on well-being. For the purposes of the research, mediation analyses were carried out, clarifying the infl uence of personality traits on well-being mediated by Internet addiction, cyberchondria and anxiety aroused by online health information seeking. It was established that Neuroticism leads to decreased well-being through the mediating infl uence of health anxiety, escalation and persistence of health concerns. Health anxiety is a mediator in the relationship between Openness to Experience and well-being. It was established that low levels of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and high levels of Openness, and Neuroticism, infl uence Internet addiction, which in turn leads to decreased well-being. Furthermore, we established the mediated infl uence of Internet addiction on the tendency for cyberchondria and health anxiety through using the Internet for health information and judgment biases.
Highlights
The Internet is constantly reaching new areas of people’s lives and is becoming a more and more signiÞcant aspect of everyday functioning
Regression analysis The results from the stepwise regression analyses with the Þve personality traits as predictors and Internet addiction, health anxiety aroused by online health information search, escalation, and persistence of concerns indicating cyberchondria as outcome variables are shown on Figure 1
Regarding the assumption that Neuroticism leads to lower levels of well-being through the mediating effect of Internet addiction, anxiety aroused by online health information seeking and cyberchondria, the following results were registered
Summary
The Internet is constantly reaching new areas of people’s lives and is becoming a more and more signiÞcant aspect of everyday functioning. There is a predisposition for users to spend increasing amounts of time online instead of in real-life activities. Do people use the Internet for online communication and entertainment, but they approach it as a source of information on a Dynamics myriad of topics, including health. Online sources of health information are not always reliable and do not necessarily provide accurate information, which might lead to disinformation, confusion, and anxiety. The purpose of the present paper is to present the results of an empirical study of the relationships between Internet addiction, cyberchondria, their inßuence on well-being, and how personality traits predict these contemporary psychological conditions
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