Modern Health Worries

The present study investigates the association of modern health worries (MHW) with self-reported as well as general practitioner (GP)-registered non-specific physical symptoms (NSPS), medication use, alternative therapy consultations, sleep quality and quality of life. The interrelation between MHW, general environmental sensitivity and the aforementioned outcomes is also explored. Methods: Self-reported questionnaires and data from electronic medical records from 21 general practices in The Netherlands were combined in a sample of 5933 adult participants. Results: The majority of the participants reported increased worries about potential health effects from environmental exposures. The highest worry scores were reported by people who perceived themselves as more vulnerable to environmental stressors. After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics and diagnosed psychiatric morbidity, higher MHW were significantly associated with increased self-reported prevalence and duration of NSPS, symptom-related healthcare utilization, GP-registered NSPS, alternative therapy consultations and lower sleep quality and quality of life. These associations were statistically mediated by perceived environmental sensitivity. No association was observed between worries and GP-registered medication prescriptions. Conclusion: Modern health worries are very common in the general population. They are associated with self-reported as well as clinically defined NSPS and as such might play a key role in the process of developing and maintaining environmental sensitivities and related symptoms. A large cross-cultural longitudinal study would help to determine important aspects such as temporal precedence and stability of MHW and the relevant psychosocial context within which symptomatic conditions occur.

Many cancer survivors seek complementary therapies (CTs) to improve their quality of life. While it is well-known that women who are younger, more highly educated, and have higher incomes are more likely to use CTs, individual differences such as personality factors have been largely unexplored as predictors of CT use. In a secondary analysis of a larger study, 270 women with stage I to III breast cancer completed self-report measures of demographic and illness-related information, personality variables, and use of several different types of CTs. A series of logistic regression models were used to explore whether demographic, illness-related, and personality variables predicted different types of CT use. Prior relationships between education and CT use were replicated. There were no significant relationships between illness-related variables and different types of CT use. Of the 5 personality factors, only openness to experience was a significant predictor of multiple types of CT us...

Using self-report data, we investigated whether personality traits are associated with, or predictive of, modern health worries (MHWs), which are popular concerns that people have that their health is threatened by modernity. Three-hundred and one British participants completed a questionnaire that measured MHWs, the Big Five personality traits and personal demographics. Results showed that openness-to-experience and conscientiousness were significantly correlated with MHWs and were significant predictors of MHWs. Those with high scores on openness-to-experience and conscientiousness showed higher MHWs scores. Religiousness was also shown to be strongly related to MHWs. Surprisingly, there were few significant associations between MHWs and trait neuroticism. It is concluded that MHWs are moderately associated with personality traits. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are also discussed.