Examining the internet addiction in terms of attachment styles, difficulties in emotion regulation and basic psychological needs

The aim of the study is to examine the contribution of adult attachment styles, emotion regulation difficulties and basic psychological needs to the social media addiction level, and explore the mediating roles of emotion regulation difficulties and subdimensions of the basic psychological needs (Otonomy, Competence and Relatedness) in the relationship between insecure attachment styles (Attachment Anxiety and Attachment Avoidance) and social media addiction. The sample of the study consists of 365 people (M = 24.27) who 251 of them are women and 114 of them are men. Participants were reached using the convenience sampling method and asked to fill out the survey prepared in the online environment. Participants were asked to fill out 'Sociodemographic Information Form', 'Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised', 'Difficulties in Emotion Regulation-Short Form', 'Basic Psychological Needs Scale', and 'Social Media Addiction Scale'. The results were obtained by conducting Pearson Correlation Analysis, Multiple Regression Analysis and Parallel Multiple Mediation Analysis (PROCESS). According to findings, it was seen that adult attachment styles, emotion regulation difficulties, basic psychological needs and social media addiction levels differed in terms of age. In addition, difficulties in emotion regulation, attachment anxiety, need for autonomy, need for relatedness, marital status and gender were found to predict social media addiction. Finally, difficulties in emotion regulation, need for autonomy and relatedness were found to mediate the relationship between insecure attachment and social media addiction, but the need for competence did not have a mediating role. The present study is one of the first studies to include all concepts mentioned together in the literature. The obtained findings were discussed in the light of the relevant literature.