How health anxiety affected obsessive-compulsive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: The mediation of difficulties in emotion regulation and the moderation of pathological personality traits

Abstract

Health anxiety (HA) was/is a common negative emotional problem during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the cognitive model of HA, individuals with HA continued to adopt a series of maladaptive and repetitive behaviors which were associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS; including over-washing, over-checking, obsessing, and metal neutralizing). The priority of the present study was to explore how HA specifically affected OCS and whether difficulties in emotion regulation (DER) and pathological personality traits (PPT) affected the relationship between the HA and OCS. We distributed an online survey from February 1 to February 17 in 2020 ( N = 1546, with average age of 25.8, and 32.7% of males) from 219 cities in China. Results showed that only four dimensions (i.e., Nonacceptance, Impulse, Non-clarity and Non-awareness) of the DER scale mediated in the predictive path of HA on OCS, which constituted a multiple mediating model. The other moderated mediation model further showed that, with higher PPT, the more significant the impact of HA was on DER, revealing PPT's moderator role between HA and OCS.

Investigating the correlation between perceived stress and health anxiety with obsessive–compulsive disorder and quality of life during COVID-19 pandemic

“…The results showed that there is a positive correlation between health anxiety and obsessive–compulsive symptoms. This finding is consistent with previous studies conducted by Hong et al [ 34 ], Wheaton et al [ 35 ], Hassoulas et al [ 13 ] and Sica et al [ 36 ]. Hong et al [ 34 ] found that there is a positive correlation between health anxiety with obsessive–compulsive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

“…This finding is consistent with previous studies conducted by Hong et al [ 34 ], Wheaton et al [ 35 ], Hassoulas et al [ 13 ] and Sica et al [ 36 ]. Hong et al [ 34 ] found that there is a positive correlation between health anxiety with obsessive–compulsive symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sica et al [ 36 ] revealed that in addition to health anxiety, people with washing and contamination obsession may also be susceptible and vulnerable to COVID-19 fears.…”

“…Previous studies have shown that health anxiety can significantly encourage OC symptoms [ 37 ]. According to the cognitive model of health anxiety, during the COVID-19 pandemic, individuals with health anxiety continued to adopt a series of maladaptive and repetitive behaviors which were associated with obsessive–compulsive symptoms (including over-washing, over-checking, obsessing, and metal neutralizing) [ 34 ]. In other words, people with high health anxiety engaged in a variety of maladaptive safety behaviors, including obsessive hand washing, social isolation, and shopping with panic.…”

COVID-19 and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a large multi-site college sample

“…Further mechanistic research is needed to test out these effects; however, the current findings do align with evidence that emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between pandemic exposure and the severity of psychological disorders in college students ( Li, Li, & Fan, 2021 ). In further support of this effect, Hong, Zhu, and Yu (2022) reported that a poor understanding of one's affective experience (i.e., limited emotion differentiation abilities), non-acceptance of one's emotions, and trying to control impulses in the face of high affect (i.e., emotion dysregulation) helped explain the relationship between health-related concerns during the pandemic and the severity of OC symptoms.…”

Analysis of the Cognitive Load of Employees Working from Home and the Construction of the Telecommuting Experience Balance Model

“…Rasmieh et al investigated factors affecting the negative moods of employees working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic. They found that anxiety and stress were significant negative emotions during the pandemic [29,30]. It can be seen that working from home greatly influenced both behavior and emotion in employees.…”