How health risk of COVID-19 resurgence may trigger individual tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria: Investigating the I-PACE model

Cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic has posed significant challenges to public well-being. Previous lstudies have implicated perceived health risk in COVID-19-related cyberchondria. However, the effect of perceived COVID-19 health risk on cyberchondria and potential underlying mechanisms remains unclear. In this study, we developed a model based on the general addictive behavior framework of the I-PACE (Interaction-Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution) model to describe how induction of health risk of COVID-19 resurgence may influence individual tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria. Through a scenario-based experiment, we tested this model with a balanced sample of 984 participants from China. The results revealed that the effect of induction of health risk of COVID-19 resurgence on tendencies regarding COVID-19-related cyberchondria was fully mediated by individual's risk perception and health information craving. Additionally, moderation analysis showed that an individual's general inhibitory control did not moderate the development of cyberchondria. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.