The Relationship Between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Internet Addiction Tendency: The Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation and Emotional Intelligence in University Students

Aim: Internet addiction tendency has emerged as a growing psychological concern among university students. The present study examined the relationships between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and Internet addiction tendency and investigated the extent to which cognitive emotion regulation strategies and emotional intelligence contribute to explaining variability in problematic Internet use.

Method: This descriptive–correlational study was conducted among 300 students at university. Participants completed the Young Internet Addiction Test, the Young Schema Questionnaire, the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, and the Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Inventory. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficients, multiple regression analyses, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses to examine predictive relationships and incremental contributions of the study variables.

Results: All five EMS significantly and positively predicted Internet addiction tendency. Emotional intelligence was a significant negative predictor and accounted for a substantial proportion of additional variance in Internet addiction tendency beyond early maladaptive schemas. Positive cognitive emotion regulation strategies contributed a smaller but significant proportion of additional variance, particularly in relation to the disconnection and rejection schema domain. Negative cognitive emotion regulation strategies did not demonstrate a significant incremental contribution.

Conclusions: EMSs represent important cognitive–emotional vulnerabilities associated with Internet addiction tendency. Emotional intelligence and adaptive cognitive emotion regulation strategies, especially positive strategies, are associated with lower levels of problematic Internet use and contribute uniquely to explaining individual differences in vulnerability. Interventions that address maladaptive schemas while strengthening emotional competencies and adaptive cognitive regulation may be beneficial in reducing problematic Internet use and enhancing students’ psychological well-being.