Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
2. School of Psychology and Wellbeing, University of Buckingham, United Kingdom
Abstract
We examined the extent to which neuroticism, health anxiety, social anxiety, and social support predicted well-being in a sample of online users engaging in health-seeking behaviour. We used a cross-sectional online survey to recruit participants who engaged in online health-seeking behaviour. The study included 350 participants who were recruited online using social media platforms such as Reddit and Twitter. A multiple regression was conducted to examine the relationships between neuroticism, health anxiety, social anxiety, social support, and well-being. Participants completed a battery of measures on Survey Monkey consisting of a demographic questionnaire, International Personality Item Pool Big Five Markers, Leibowitz Social Anxiety scale, Short Health Anxiety Inventory, World Health Organisation Five Well-Being Index, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. We found significant negative correlations between the indicated psychological variables and well-being, indicating that higher levels of neuroticism, social anxiety, and health anxiety were related to lower levels of well-being. We also found significant, positive correlations between the social support variables and well-being, indicating that more social support was correlated with better well-being. The results of the multiple regression demonstrate that neuroticism, health anxiety, family support, and friend support were significant predictors of well-being.