The mediating role of self-esteem on the relationship between emotional dysregulation and compassion with Internet addiction

Introduction: Internet addiction is a behavioral dependency that person to deal with problems than it uses. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the role of mediator Self-esteem in the relationship among emotional dysregulation and compassion with Internet addiction. Method: In a descriptive-correlation study, a sample of 240 students from Iran University of medical sciences was selected using cluster sampling method. Participants responded to SelfCompassion scale, Self-Esteem Scale, Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Internet addiction Scale. Data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). For statistical analysis, Spss V. 22 and Lisrel 8.85 were used to classify, process and analyze the data and to investigate the hypotheses of the research. Results: The evaluation of hypothetical model with fit indexes demonstrated that the hypothetical model fits the measurement model (CFI=0.98, NFI=0.98, and RMSEA=0.055). Structural relations analysis also showed emotional dysregulation and compassion indirectly through Self-Esteem over Internet addiction respectively (0/73 و- 0/126( and also the results also showed that the emotional dysregulation has a direct relation to Internet addiction (0/44). Conclusion: Research findings showed that Self-Esteem have a mediating role in relationship between emotional dysregulation and compassion and Internet addiction. Considering these dimensions and the effectiveness of the employed mechanisms can be useful in developing efficacious preventive and therapeutic interventions for Internet addiction.