title: Abnormal illness behavior and Internet addiction severity: The role of disease conviction, irritability, and alexithymia.
abstract: Background and aims While the association between health anxiety and maladaptive Internet use is a well-established finding, no studies have been performed to examine the possible effect of abnormal illness behavior (AIB). AIB is a maladaptive manner of experiencing, evaluating, or acting in response to health and illness that is disproportionate to evident pathology. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between AIB and Internet addiction (IA) severity in a sample of Italian University students. The possible effect of alexithymia, anxiety, and depression was also taken into account. Methods Participants were 115 men and 163 women (mean age = 23.62 ± 4.38 years); AIB was measured via the Illness Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ), and IA severity by the Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Results The most powerful IBQ factor predicting IA severity scores was disease conviction. Irritability was the only emotional IBQ factor associated with IA severity. Nevertheless, disease conviction and alexithymia remained the only significant predictors of IAT scores when hierarchical regression analysis was executed. Discussion and conclusions Our results support previous findings showing that those characterized by health anxiety are more prone to an excessive and maladaptive use of Internet. Moreover, this study showed that irritability was the only emotional aspect of AIB predicting IA severity. This finding is consistent with the cognitive model of hypochondria, which states that cognitive factors (dysfunctional beliefs and assumptions) play a major role in the explanation of this psychopathological condition.
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scimeca
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bruno
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Crucitti
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Conti
authors.affiliation: 2 MRC Social, Genetic & Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London , London, UK.
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Quattrone
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pandolfo
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Rocco Antonio
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Zoccali
authors.affiliation: 1 Psychiatry Unit, Department of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina , Policlinico Universitario, Messina, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Rosaria Anna
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Muscatello
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000342:Affective Symptoms; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D006998:Hypochondriasis / Q000523:psychology*; D055809:Illness Behavior; D020407:Internet; D007508:Irritable Mood; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Internet addiction; abnormal illness behavior; alexithymia; disease conviction; health anxiety