IMPACT OF INTERNET ADDICTION ON HEALTH ANXIETY IN MALAYSIAN YOUTH DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31674/mjmr.2021.v05i02.003Abstract
The COVID-19 The pandemic affected the mental health of people. Individuals prefer to collect information from the Internet about the virus, disease, symptoms, reports on statistics, treatments, and any other information related to the pandemic. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of Internet use in three different levels of users (Internet addicts, over-users, and average-users) on health anxiety during the pandemic among the young population in Malaysia. Four hundred and forty-eight young adult in Malaysia completed the online survey including demographic questionnaire, Short-form Health Anxiety Inventory, and Internet Addiction Test. Results showed that the Internet addict users have higher scores in the Total Health Anxiety and Health Anxiety factors (Illness Likelihood and Negative Consequences) compared to the average-users and over-users. It seems that high Internet usage is associated with high health anxiety. People may search more on the Internet for information related to the COVID-19 and the symptoms and it may increase their health anxiety. This study provides knowledge implications for mental health professionals about the association between Internet addiction and health anxiety. The findings may provide awareness to the public and professionals about one of the factors that are linked to individuals’ health anxiety during the pandemic.
Keywords:
COVID-19, Health Anxiety, Internet Addiction, Malaysia, PandemicDownloads
References
Abdel-Salam, D.M., Alrowaili, H.I., Albedaiwi, H.K., Alessa, A.I. & Alfayyadh, H.A. (2019). Prevalence of Internet addiction and its associated factors among female students at Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 94(1), pp.1-8.
Abramowitz, J.S., Deacon, B.J. & Valentiner, D.P. (2007). The Short Health Anxiety Inventory: Psychometric properties and construct validity in a non-clinical sample. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 31(6), pp.871-883.
Andersson, G., Bergström, J., Holländare, F., Carlbring, P.E.R., Kaldo, V. & Ekselius, L. (2005). Internet-based self-help for depression: randomised controlled trial. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 187(5), pp.456-461.
Baumgartner, S.E. & Hartmann, T. (2011). The role of health anxiety in online health information search. Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social networking, 14(10), pp.613-618.
Brown, R.J., Skelly, N. & Chew‐Graham, C.A. (2020). Online health research and health anxiety: A systematic review and conceptual integration. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 27(2), p.e12299.
Chou, C., Condron, L. & Belland, J.C. (2005). A review of the research on Internet addiction. Educational Psychology Review, 17(4), pp.363-388.
Christensen, H., Griffiths, K.M. & Jorm, A.F. (2004). Delivering interventions for depression by using the internet: randomised controlled trial. Bmj, 328(7434), p.265.
Eastin, M.S. & Guinsler, N.M. (2006). Worried and wired: effects of health anxiety on information-seeking and health care utilization behaviors. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 9(4), pp.494-498.
Eysenbach, G. & Köhler, C. (2002). How do consumers search for and appraise health information on the world wide web? Qualitative study using focus groups, usability tests, and in-depth interviews. Bmj, 324(7337), pp.573-577.
Ha, Y.M. & Hwang, W.J. (2014). Gender differences in internet addiction associated with psychological health indicators among adolescents using a national web-based survey. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 12(5), pp.660-669.
Kandasamy, S., Buhari, A.M. & Janaki, S. (2019). A study on anxiety disorder among college students with internet addiction. International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health, 6(4), pp.1695-1700.
Khodabakhsh, S. & Ahmadi, S. (2020). The relationship between subjective happiness and social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: the moderating role of resilience. Aloma: Revista de Psicologia, Ciències de L'educació i de L'esport Blanquerna, 38(2), pp.105-112.
Khodabakhsh, S. & Leng, C.S. (2020). Relationship Between Social Media Usage and Body Image Evaluation in Malaysian Youth. Malaysian Journal of Medical Research (MJMR), 4(4), pp.62-67.
Khodabakhsh, S., Rezaei, S., Rosli, N. A., Chaudhry, Z., Yen, C. & Tan, T. (2020). April. Preliminary Study on Associations between Demographic Variables (Gender, Type of Student and Program) and Level of Internet Use. In Conference E-Proceeding pp. 38.
Lewis, T. (2006). Seeking health information on the internet: Lifestyle choice or bad attack of cyberchondria? Media, Culture & Society, 28(4), pp.521-539.
Malaysian Communications Commission and Multimedia (2017). Internet Users Survey 2017 Statistical Brief Series Number Twenty-One.
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (2018). Internet Users Survey 2018 The Statistical Brief Series Number Twenty-Three.
Masih, J., & Rajkumar, R. (2019). Internet Addiction Disorder and Mental Health in Adolescents. Journal of Depression Anxiety, S13.
McMullan, R. D., Berle, D., Arnáez, S. & Starcevic, V. (2019). The relationships between health anxiety, online health information seeking, and cyberchondria: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, pp:270-278.
Muse, K., McManus, F., Leung, B., Meghreblian, T. & Williams, J. M. G. (2012). Cyberchondriasis: Fact or fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health information on the Internet. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 26, pp:189–196.
Ostovar, S., Allahyar, N., Aminpoor, H., Moafian, F., Nor, M.B.M. & Griffiths, M.D. (2016). Internet addiction and its psychosocial risks (depression, anxiety, stress and loneliness) among Iranian adolescents and young adults: A structural equation model in a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 14(3), pp.257-267.
Powell, J. & Clarke, A. (2006). Internet information-seeking in mental health: population survey. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 189(3), pp.273-277.
Powell, J., McCarthy, N. & Eysenbach, G. (2003). Cross-sectional survey of users of Internet depression communities. BMC Psychiatry, 3(1), pp.1-7.
Rezaei, S., Khodabakhsh, S. & Rabbani, M. (2020). Relationship Between Sensation Seeking and Internet Use Among International Students. Malaysian Journal of Medical Research (MJMR), 4(4), pp.1-6.
Saikia, A.M., Das, J., Barman, P. & Bharali, M.D. (2019). Internet addiction and its relationships with depression, anxiety, and stress in urban adolescents of Kamrup District. Assam. Journal of Family & Community Medicine, 26(2), p.108.
Salkovskis, P.M. & Warwick, H.M. (1986). Morbid preoccupations, health anxiety and reassurance: a cognitive-behavioural approach to hypochondriasis. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 24(5), pp.597-602.
Salkovskis, P.M., Rimes, K.A., Warwick, H.M.C. & Clark, D.M. (2002). The Health Anxiety Inventory: development and validation of scales for the measurement of health anxiety and hypochondriasis. Psychological Medicine, 32(5), pp.843-853.
Salkovskis, P.M., Warwick, H.M. & Deale, A.C. (2003). Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment for Severe and Persistent Health Anxiety (Hypochondriasis). Brief Treatment & Crisis Intervention, 3(3).
Singh, K. & Brown, R.J. (2014). Health-related Internet habits and health anxiety in university students. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 27(5), pp.542-554.
Singh, K., Fox, J.R. & Brown, R.J. (2016). Health anxiety and Internet use: A thematic analysis. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 10(2).
Starcevic, V. & Berle, D. (2013). Cyberchondria: towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 13(2), pp.205-213.
Taylor, S. (2004). Understanding and treating Health Anxiety: A cognitive-behavioral approach. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 11, pp:112-123.
Te Poel, F., Baumgartner, S.E., Hartmann, T. & Tanis, M. (2016). The curious case of cyberchondria: A longitudinal study on the reciprocal relationship between health anxiety and online health information seeking. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 43, pp.32-40.
Turner, A.M., Petrochilos, D., Nelson, D.E., Allen, E. & Liddy, E.D. (2009). Access and use of the Internet for health information seeking: a survey of local public health professionals in the northwest. Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, 15(1), pp.67-69.
Van der Aa, N., Overbeek, G., Engels, R.C., Scholte, R.H., Meerkerk, G.J. & Van den Eijnden, R.J. (2009). Daily and compulsive internet use and well-being in adolescence: a diathesis-stress model based on big five personality traits. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(6), p.765.
Warwick, H.M. & Salkovskis, P.M. (1990). Hypochondriasis. Behaviour research and therapy, 28(2), pp.105-117.
White, R.W. & Horvitz, E. (2009). Cyberchondria: studies of the escalation of medical concerns in web search. ACM Transactions on Information Systems (TOIS), 27(4), pp.1-37.
Yang, C.K., Choe, B.M., Baity, M., Lee, J.H. & Cho, J.S. (2005). SCL-90-R and 16PF profiles of senior high school students with excessive internet use. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 50(7), pp.407-414.
Young, K.S. (1998). Internet addiction: The emergence of a new clinical disorder. Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 1(3), pp.237-244.
Zhang, Y., Jones, B., Spalding, M., Young, R. & Ragain, M. (2009). Use of the internet for health information among primary care patients in rural West Texas. Southern Medical Journal, 102(6), pp.595-601.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Malaysian Journal of Medical Research (MJMR)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
