Structural Modeling of Health Anxiety with Emotion Regulation According to Mediating Role of Alexithymia in Medical Students

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between cognitive emotion regulation strategies and health anxiety with regarding the mediating role of alexithymia in medical students.

This study was a correlational research in the form of structural equation research. Using convenience sampling, 450 medical students were selected and asked to complete the Salcovix and Warwick Health Anxiety Questionnaires (1986), Toronto Emotional Inventory Questionnaire (Bagby, Parker & Taylor,) and Emotional Adjustment Questionnaire (Garnefsky & Kreige & Spinhaun,). The data were analyzed using Amos software and statistical equation method.

The results showed that the two tested models have significant relationship between positive and negative emotion regulation strategies and health anxiety with mediating role of alexithymia (P<0.01). In the study of Pearson correlation coefficients between variables, except for the correlation coefficients between emotion regulation strategy with health anxiety attitude and disaster emotion regulation strategies, rumination with emotional distress, other coefficients were significant (P<0.01).

Based on the above results, it can be concluded that emotion regulation strategies have a significant role in medical studentschr('39') anxiety level and alexithymia can modulate this relationship.