The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effects of emotion clarity and emotion dysregulation through the relationship between differentiation of self and relationship addiction in college students. This study was conducted on 468 college students across the country, and a survey was conducted using Differentiation of Self Scale, Relationship Addiction Scale, Emotion Clarity Scale, and the Korean version of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. The collected data were analyzed through Pearson momentum correlation analysis and equation model verification using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 22.0. The results of this study showed that the model mediated by emotional clarity and emotion dysregulation is valid in finding effects of differentiation of self on relationship addiction. In addition, emotional dysregulation has a full mediating effect with regard to the differentiation of self on relationship addiction, and the sequential dual mediation effects of emotional clarity and emotional dysregulation were significant in the relationship between differentiation of self and relationship addiction. In other words, the study found that differentiation of self indirectly influences relationship addiction through emotional clarity and emotional dysregulation. Based on these results, it is significant that the results of the study showed a relatively easy-to-treat emotional dimension in the counseling field of treating college students struggling with relationship addiction, and provided the necessity for emotion-focused interventions that emphasize comprehensive interventions of emotion recognition and regulation.
Paeng et al. (Tue,) studied this question.