Investigation of the predictions of emotional addiction level in individuals with romantic relationship

People naturally want to be in close contact with others. In line with these wishes and desires, they have a romantic relationship. However, it is seen that some people do not live a romantic relationship only with the feeling of love, they develop an addiction to their partner to suppress their own negative feelings and concerns. Thus, considering that people maintain a relationship even if they are unhealthy and their lives are negatively affected, examining the factors that are likely to cause emotional addiction will be an important step for future studies and clinical applications. In this regard, it was aimed to examine the level of self-esteem, interpersonal emotion regulation skills, adult separation anxiety and relationship satisfaction predicting the level of emotional dependence in a romantic relationship. 413 people (237 women and 176 men) who had a romantic relationship participated in the study. The mean age of the participants was 33.78 (SS= 10.31). Sociodemographic Information Form, Emotional Dependence Scale, Two-Dimensional Self-Esteem Scale, Interpersonal Emotion Regulation Scale, Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire and Relationship Evaluation Scale were given to the participants to be filled in on the online platform. According to the findings, there was a statistically significant relationship with emotional dependence, interpersonal emotion regulation and its sub-dimensions, positively with relationship satisfaction, and negatively with adult separation anxiety. According regression analysis findings, adult separation anxiety and relationship satisfaction predicted emotional dependence at a statistically significant level. It was concluded that the level of separation anxiety and relationship satisfaction may have an effect on the development of emotional dependence. Increasing positive emotions, relationship satisfaction and relationship duration, which are sub-dimensions of women's interpersonal emotion regulation, were found to be statistically significantly higher than men. For both genders, separation anxiety and relationship satisfaction predicted emotional dependence at a statistically significant level; getting perspective subscale of emotion regulation skills in women also predicted emotional dependence at a statistically significant level. As a result, it is thought that the findings of this study will make an important contribution to the clinical applications establishing a healthy and functional relationship instead of dysfunctional emotional dependence. Keywords: Seperation anxiety, Self esteem, Emotional dependency, Emotion regulation, Relationship satisfaction