The Potential Role of the Early Maladaptive Schema in Behavioral Addictions Among Late Adolescents and Young Adults

Abstract

Background: Behavioral addiction (BA) is a recent concept in psychiatry. Few studies have investigated the relationship between BA and early maladaptive schemas (EMSs). EMS is the core of Schema Therapy (ST). According to the ST model, psychiatric disorders result from the development of EMSs in response to unmet emotional needs in childhood. Bach et al. (2018) grouped the 18 EMSs into four domains: (1) disconnection and rejection; (2) impaired autonomy and performance; (3) excessive responsibility and standards; and (4) impaired limits. This study aims to assess the possible association of the most frequent BAs with EMSs in a large group of late adolescents and young adults and to evaluate their self-perceived quality of life (QoL). Methods: A battery of psychological tests assessing food addiction (FA), gambling disorder (GD), internet addiction (IA), and QoL was administered to 1,075 late adolescents and young adults (N = 637; 59.3% women). A forward-stepwise logistic regression model was run to identify which variables were associated with BAs. Results: Food addiction was more frequent among women and GD among men, while IA was equally distributed. Regarding the EMSs, participants with FA or IA showed significantly higher scores on all four-schema domains, whereas those with GD exhibited higher scores on impaired autonomy and performance and impaired limits. Besides, average scores of all domains increased with the association of two or more comorbid BAs. Self-perceived QoL was lower for participants with FA and IA, but not for those with GD; the presence of comorbid BAs was associated with lower Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores. Finally, specific EMS domains and demographic variables were associated with each BA. Conclusion: Late adolescents and young adults with FA or IA have a lower perception of their mental and physical health. The most striking result is that FA appears to be

The Relationship between Problematic Facebook Use and Early Maladaptive Schemas

“…Consequently, they ignored the interrelationships between EMSs. Taken together, these studies [24,25] appear to indicate that EMSs can be important contributors to problematic behaviors associated with general internet use. However, taking into account the differences between subtypes of these problematic online behaviors, such as problematic general internet use, problematic videogame playing, and problematic Facebook use [8,[46][47][48], it is essential to verify EMSs that may be related to the development of these problematic online behavior subtypes.…”

“…Additionally, Aloi et al [24], and Shajari, Sohrabi, and Jomehri [25] demonstrated there is a relationship between problematic internet use and EMSs. More specifically, Aloi et al [24] conducted a study comprising 1075 university students to determine the difference between low and high problematic internet use groups across the EMSs dimensions.…”

“…Additionally, Aloi et al [24], and Shajari, Sohrabi, and Jomehri [25] demonstrated there is a relationship between problematic internet use and EMSs. More specifically, Aloi et al [24] conducted a study comprising 1075 university students to determine the difference between low and high problematic internet use groups across the EMSs dimensions. Based on logistic regression, they reported that younger age and higher scores on the EMSs dimensions, such as that of disconnection and rejection, responsibility accountability and standards, and impaired limits were associated with high problematic internet use.…”

“…Taking into account that EMSs are "extremely stable and enduring themes that develop during childhood and are elaborated upon throughout an individual's lifetime" ( [23], p. 9) and EMSs are a cognitive-emotional representation of the knowledge individuals have about themselves and the world they live in [23], they can be essential in understanding the development of problematic behaviors, such as PFU. However, there are very few studies examining the relationship between problematic behaviors associated with internet use and such schemas [24,25]. Additionally, they only focus on general problematic internet use and avoid other problematic behaviors related to internet use, such as PFU.…”

“…EMSs are also associated with personality disorders, including dependent personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and antisocial personality disorder [36][37][38][39]. Previous research has also shown that EMSs are related to substance use [40,41], and behavioral addictions, such as problematic gambling [24,42], food addiction [24,43], compulsive sexual behavior [44], and problematic smartphone use [45].…”