Objective: We examined the psychological mechanisms underlying cyberchondria by testing whether rumination mediates the association between intolerance of uncertainty and cyberchondria and whether this indirect effect is moderated by prior medical experiences and perceived access to healthcare. Methods and Measures: A cross-sectional design was employed with a non-clinical sample of 96 Romanian adults. Participants completed validated self-report measures of intolerance of uncertainty (IUS-12), rumination (Ruminative Responses Scale), and cyberchondria (Cyberchondria Severity Scale). Additional items assessed medical history and perceived access to healthcare. Moderated mediation analyses with bootstrapped confidence intervals were conducted, controlling for relevant sociodemographic variables. Results: Higher intolerance of uncertainty was associated with higher cyberchondria both directly and indirectly through rumination, which accounted for more than half of the total effect. The rumination–cyberchondria association, and the indirect effect of IU, were significantly stronger among individuals who had experienced a recent acute medical episode, whereas chronic illness did not significantly moderate this pathway. Cyberchondria levels were lowest among participants reporting very good access to healthcare. Conclusions: Cyberchondria appears to arise from the interaction of intolerance of uncertainty, ruminative thinking, and contextual health experiences. Targeting rumination and uncertainty tolerance may be particularly important following acute medical events.

Depressive disorders are strongly influenced by personality organization, attachment style, and defensive functioning. This study examined the associations between depression severity, defense mechanisms, and adult attachment styles, and explored potential moderating effects of gender. A community sample completed standardized measures assessing depressive symptoms, defense mechanisms (mature, neurotic, immature), and attachment dimensions (anxious, avoidant). Correlational and regression analyses indicated that higher depressive severity was negatively associated with denial and dissociation, while no significant links emerged for projection or mature defenses. Anxious attachment predicted greater use of projection (B = 4.65, p = 0.040), but depression did not moderate this association. Cluster analysis identified two distinct profiles: one with moderate depression and higher denial, and another with severe depression and markedly lower denial. Men reported higher dysfunctional defenses overall, whereas a significant depression × gender interaction suggested that depressive severity was associated with reduced dysfunctional defenses among women (B = −0.58, p = 0.002). These findings challenge prevailing evidence that depressive severity correlates with greater immature defense use, instead suggesting a possible defensive collapse at high symptom levels. The study contributes novel insights into how attachment and gender shape defensive functioning in depression, emphasizing the need for longitudinal and clinical replication.

Background: Subclinical eating-disorder tendencies may reflect early psychological vulnerability before the development of clinically diagnosed eating disorders. Body image concerns, perceived social support, and control-related beliefs are established correlates of eating pathology. However, their joint pattern across several eating-disorder tendency profiles has received less attention in Romanian nonclinical adult samples. Objective: We examined differences in perceived social support, locus of control, and body image concerns among participants with and without subclinical tendencies associated with anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. We investigated the association between locus of control and body image concerns. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative design was used. The sample included 108 participants who completed online self-report measures assessing perceived social support, eating-disorder tendencies, body image concerns, and locus of control. Independent-samples t-tests and Welch tests were used for group comparisons. Bonferroni correction was applied within families of comparisons. Effect sizes were reported using Hedges’ g. Pearson correlation and simple linear regression were used to examine the association between locus of control and body image concerns. Results: Body image concerns were significantly higher among participants with anorexic, binge-eating, and bulimic tendencies. Perceived social support was lower among participants with binge-eating and bulimic tendencies, but not among those with anorexic tendencies. Locus of control differed significantly only in the exploratory bulimia comparison after correction. External locus of control was positively associated with body image concerns and explained a small but significant proportion of variance. Conclusions: Body image concerns emerged as the most consistent correlate of subclinical eating-disorder tendencies. The findings support the relevance of body image, interpersonal resources, and control-related beliefs in early eating-disorder vulnerability.