The Mediating Role of Emotional Control in the Relationship Between Basic Psychological Needs and the Tendency to Use Drugs in Students

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of emotional control in the relationship between basic psychological needs and the tendency to use drugs in students. The current research was carried out by correlation type and using the statistical method of structural equation modeling. The statistical population of the present study was all secondary school students of Noord city in the academic year of 1401-1400; And the research sample included 250 people who were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The questionnaires that were considered to collect information from the sample group were: Substance Abuse Propensity Questionnaire (IAPS), Basic Psychological Needs Questionnaire (BSNQ; Guardia, Desi and Ryan, 2000), Emotional Control Scale (ECQ2) by Roger and Nashover (1987). Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for statistical analysis of data. The results showed that basic psychological needs have an effect on the tendency to use drugs both directly and indirectly through emotional control. In general, according to the results, it can be said that emotional control plays a mediating role in the relationship between basic psychological needs and the tendency to use drugs in students.