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Health Anxiety: Latent Structure and Associations with Anxiety-related Psychological Processes in a Student Sample

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Abstract

Although currently classified as a somatoform disorder, cognitive-behavioral models conceptualize hypochondriasis (HC) as a severe form of health anxiety. The Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) is a measure derived from this conceptualization that measures health anxiety symptoms across the range of severity. Previous studies have reported inconsistent findings regarding this measure’s factor structure, but these studies employed factor analytic tools that did not account for the categorical nature of SHAI items. The present psychometric study was designed to address these inconsistencies using categorical factor analysis. Using data from a large student sample we found that the SHAI had two factors: Illness Likelihood and Illness Severity. We also examined the relationship between these domains and cognitive variables associated with other anxiety disorders. Results suggested that the psychological processes present in obsessive-compulsive disorder and panic disorder are also associated with health anxiety. Implications for the conceptualization and classification of severe health anxiety are discussed.

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Notes

  1. For the purposes of this study, HC refers to health anxiety severe enough to meet criteria for a diagnosis of hypochodriasis, while health anxiety refers to the broader continuum of this construct.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3270 - Davie Hall, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-3270, USA

    Michael G. Wheaton, Noah C. Berman, Joseph C. Franklin & Jonathan S. Abramowitz

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  1. Michael G. Wheaton
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  2. Noah C. Berman
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  3. Joseph C. Franklin
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  4. Jonathan S. Abramowitz
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Correspondence to Michael G. Wheaton.

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Wheaton, M.G., Berman, N.C., Franklin, J.C. et al. Health Anxiety: Latent Structure and Associations with Anxiety-related Psychological Processes in a Student Sample. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 32, 565–574 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9179-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-010-9179-4

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