Examination of the Relationship Between Severity of Addiction and Personality: The Mediating Effect of Social Alienation and Emotional, Cognitive Regulation

Background: The current research investigated the mediating roles of social alienation and emotional and cognitive regulation in the relation between personality and severity of substance abuse in students. This study is a descriptive-correlational research design. Objectives: This study, used a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to evaluate the correlates of the severity of the addiction. This path analytical strategy allowed for the simultaneous examination of the mentioned variables. Methods: The sample of this study included all students in Tehran province (the academic year of 2022). Five hundred fifty students took part in the current research. NEO-PI-R, social alienation, and the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS) were used. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results: Considering that the model fit indices represent a good fit of the model and the mean root square of the estimation error (RMSEA) was equal to 0.029, which shows a very good fit, and according to the presented indicators, the research model is confirmed. The results indicate that the relationship between variables is significant (P value 0.05). The direct effect of personality on the severity of addiction and social isolation is equal to -0.68 and -0.73, respectively, and in terms of cognitive emotion regulation is estimated to be 0.85. The indirect effect of personality on addiction severity was calculated at 0.86 by social alienation and -0.79 by emotional cognition. Conclusions: Our results suggest that personality features mediated by social alienation and emotional and cognitive regulation can be used to predict the severity of the addiction. Therefore, the proposed model was cleared to be an appropriate model for predicting substance abuse in students.