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Abstract

In Health anxiety, an individual either believes they have a serious illness or fears they may develop one. It is characterized by excessive concern about health, leading to extreme and often inconsistent behaviors aimed at maintaining well-being. This research aimed to explore the structural causal relationships between personality factors and health anxiety, with cognitive emotion regulation strategies and health locus of control serving as mediating variables. Given the nature of the topic and objectives, the study was fundamental in scope and correlational in design. The statistical population consisted of all students at Tabriz University during the 2022-2023 academic year, totaling 23,000 individuals. Using Cochran's formula, a sample size of 378 was determined through stratified random sampling. Data collection instruments included the Shai Health Questionnaire, the NEO Personality Factors Questionnaire, and the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control (MHLC). Structural equation modeling was applied to test the research hypotheses, with calculations conducted using SPSS (version 18) and Amos (version 22). The results indicated that neuroticism and openness to experience had a positive and significant effect on health anxiety, whereas extraversion, conscientiousness, and agreeableness showed an inverse, significant effect. Furthermore, internal health locus of control negatively impacted health anxiety, while external health control and chance health control had positive, significant effects.

Keywords: Personality factors, Health anxiety, Source of health control, SEM