The Mediating Role of Self- Control in the Relationship between Emotion Regulation and Addiction Potential among Students

Psychological factors are very important variables in the addiction potential. The aim of current research was to investigate the mediating role of self-control in the relationship between emotion regulation and addiction potential among university students. This research was cross-sectional correlational. The statistical population of the present study included students from Yasouj University in the academic year 2017-18. 394 of the university students were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method and responded to the Iranian scale of addiction potential, emotion regulation subscale, and self-control scale. The gathered data were analyzed by Pearson correlation coefficient, regression analysis, path analysis and sobel test (p≤0.05). Results showed that, emotion regulation could negatively predict addiction potential (p=0.01) and positively predict self-control (p=0.01). Also emotion regulation could indirectly predict addiction potential with the mediating role of self- control (p=0.01) The results of current research implies the importance of psychological factors such as emotion regulation and self- control in explaining addiction potential. Also, the role of emotional regulation in direct and indirect explanation of addiction is important.