The Causal Relationship of Insecure Attachment and Moral Intelligence with Addiction Potential with the Mediating Role of Sensation Seeking in Male Students

The aim of this study was to examine the causal relationship of secure attachment and moral intelligence with addiction potential through the mediating role of sensation seeking in 10th-grade male students of high schools in Ahwaz.
In this descriptive-correlational study, all 10th-grade male students of public high schools in Ahwaz constituted the statistical population. From among this population, the number of 64 students was selected from educational districts one and three of Ahvaz through multi-stage random sampling method. For data collection, the following instruments were used: Simpson's Attachment Style Scale (1990), Lennick, & Kiel's Moral Intelligence Scale (2008), Arnett's Inventory of Sensation Seeking (AISS) (1994), and Iranian Addiction Potential Scale (IAPS) (Zargar, 2006). The proposed model was evaluated via path analysis method. In order to assess the indirect relations, the Bootstrap test was used in the Macro Preacher and Hayes computer instructions.
According to the results of this study, the proposed model enjoyed a good fit with the data. In general, the results showed that all path coefficients among the variables were statistically significant in the whole sample. Also, direct paths of insecure attachment and moral intelligence towards sensation seeking were also significant. In addition, the results showed that indirect paths of insecure attachment and moral intelligence towards addiction potential were significant through sensation seeking.
The findings of this study showed that the proposed model has an acceptable goodness of fit and can be useful in identifying effective factors in addiction potential. Moreover, this model can be useful for the development of addiction prevention programs.