The Spanish version of the short form of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-12): Testing the factor structure and measurement invariance across genders

• Published in: Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) Vol. 42; no. 24; pp. 20686 - 20695
• Main Authors: Arnáez, Sandra, García-Soriano, Gemma, Castro, Jesús, Berle, David, Starcevic, Vladan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2023; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anxiety; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Demographic aspects; Diagnosis; Evaluation; Health aspects; Internet; Psychological aspects; Psychological tests; Psychology; Sex differences (Psychology); Social Sciences; Spain; Bifactor model; Short form of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS-12); Cyberchondria; Invariance across genders
• ISSN: 1046-1310; 1936-4733
• DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03170-3

Cyberchondria refers to excessive and repeated online health-related searching, which is associated with increased distress and anxiety. The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS) is the most widely used measure for assessment of cyberchondria, and its shortened version (CSS-12) has recently been developed. The aim of the present study was to develop the Spanish version of the CSS-12 and test its psychometric properties. A community sample of 432 Spanish-speaking adults (67.6% women; mean age = 36.00 ± 15.22 years) completed the Spanish translation of CSS-12 along with measures of health anxiety, obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and depressive symptoms. The Spanish version of the CSS-12 comprises a general cyberchondria factor and four specific factors (‘excessiveness’, ‘compulsion’, ‘distress’, and ‘reassurance’). Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated measurement invariance across gender groups. Internal consistency values for the total score and subscales were good to excellent. The CSS-12 showed strong correlations with health anxiety, and moderate to low correlations with anxiety, obsessive - compulsive and depressive symptoms, supporting the convergent and divergent validity of the CSS-12, respectively. In conclusion, these results show that the CSS-12 is a valid and reliable tool for measuring cyberchondria in both genders in the general Spanish population.