A theoretical model of cyberchondria development: Antecedents and intermediate processes

•A theoretical model is proposed to describe how individuals develop cyberchondria when they seek medical information on the Internet.•Cyberchondria is conceptualized as a negative outcome of online health information seeking, including a set of patterns (i.e., excessiveness, compulsion, distress, and reassurance).•Perceived health threat of common symptoms can be a trigger of health anxiety that motivates online health information seeking through the perception of information insufficiency.•Negative metacognitive beliefs provide a boundary condition for how regular online health information seeking results in cyberchondria. Cyberchondria describes excessive online health searches associated with increased emotional distress. While previous research has examined various antecedents of cyberchondria, how regular online health information seeking (OHIS) turns into cyberchondria has received minimal theoretical attention. This study proposes a theoretical model that illuminates the processes of cyberchondria development among individuals who are anxious about their health. Results from an online survey of 426 Chinese Internet users lend support to the proposed theoretical model, which posits perceived health threat of common symptoms as a trigger of health anxiety that motivates OHIS through the perception of information insufficiency. In this process, positive source beliefs strengthen the effect of information insufficiency on OHIS. This study further identifies negative metacognitive beliefs as a boundary condition for how regular OHIS results in cyberchondria. By conceptualizing the processes of cyberchondria development, this integrative model provides guidance for future theory development and testing in this new research area.