Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore an extended interpersonal model of health anxiety, according to which health-anxious individuals are trapped in a vicious circle of health-related reassurance-seeking, alienation from others, and worry about health, while somatic absorption with body sensations, insecure attachment, neuroticism, safety-seeking behaviors, and medical services utilization were also included in the model. Data were collected from 196 Greek university students using standardized instruments. Results indicated that anxious attachment was directly related to absorption (β = .163, p < .05) and alienation (β = .204, p < .05), while avoidant attachment was directly related to absorption (β = −.344, p < .001), reassurance-seeking (β = −.130, p < .05), and alienation (β = .148, p < .05). Neuroticism was positively and significantly associated with all dimensions of health anxiety. Absorption, alienation, and anxious attachment were related to medical services utilization, which, in turn, was related to safety-seeking behaviors (β = .200, p < .01). Neuroticism and anxious attachment were also indirectly and positively associated with worry. Moreover, absorption was positively related to worry and reassurance-seeking, worry was positively related to reassurance-seeking, and alienation was positively related to worry. Study results highlight the key role that interpersonal (e.g., alienation from others) and perceptual factors (e.g., the tendency to focus on bodily sensations) can play in health anxiety maintenance, and the importance of anxious and avoidant attachment in safety-seeking behavior engagement. Implications of the results and suggestions for future research and practice are outlined.
Highlights
Health anxiety refers to an exaggerating fear and persistent worry about one’s health, along with beliefs that one has an illness or may contract a serious one in the future (Taylor & Asmund, 2004)
Absorption represents the perceptual dimension of health anxiety and refers to one’s tendency to focus on bodily sensations
This study gives an alternative view of health anxiety as our results highlight the importance of insecure attachment both in health anxiety and in engagement in safety-seeking behaviors
Summary
Health anxiety refers to an exaggerating fear and persistent worry about one’s health, along with beliefs that one has an illness or may contract a serious one in the future (Taylor & Asmund, 2004). As conceptualized by Longley, Watson, and Noyes (2005), consists of four dimensions: alienation, reassurance-seeking, absorption, and worry. Alienation is the interpersonal dimension of health anxiety and refers to one’s tendency to believe one is ill despite evidence to the contrary and that others are unconcerned about one’s health. This dimension was originally considered to be a cognitive one, it seems to reflect more interpersonal content rather than cognitive content. Reassurance-seeking is the behavioral dimension of health anxiety. It refers to one’s tendency to seek social support for perceived health concerns. The fourth dimension of health anxiety, namely, worry, which is an affective one, refers to one’s tendency to worry excessively about illness and health
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