The effect of early maladaptive schemas on Tendency to Risky Behaviors with the mediating role of emotion regulation in male secondary school students

Subject Areas : Psychology

Fariborz Sedeghi Arfaee ¹ , Mohammad javad navabi semiromi ² , Ali asghar karami ³

1 - Associate Prof. of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan, Iran.
2 - Master of General psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan Iran.
3 - Master of General psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Kashan, Kashan Iran.

Received: 2023-07-09 Accepted : 2024-11-19 Published : 2025-12-06

Keywords: Early maladaptive schemas, tendency to risky behavior, Emotion regulation, male secondary school students,

Abstract :

The purpose of this study was to investigate the the effect of early maladaptive schemas on the tendency to risky behaviors with the mediating role of emotion regulation in male secondary school students. The research was conducted using correlational descriptive methodology and structural equation modeling. The statistical population included all male secondary school students in Mobarakeh city. A sample of 235 adolescents were selected through convenience sampling. Due to loss of 30 samples the final sample size reached 205 participants. In order to collect the data, risky behaviors Scale (Zadeh Mohammadi & Ahmadabadi, 2008), Young's Schema Questionnaire-Short Form (YSQ-SF) (Young, & Brown, 1998) and Cognitive Emotional Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) (Garnefski, & et al, 2009) were used. Findings based on model estimations showed that the direct effect of early maladaptive schema domains on tendency toward risk-taking behaviors was positive and significant. In addition, the direct effect of positive emotion regulation on risk-taking behaviors tendency was negative and significant and the direct effect of negative emotion regulation on risk-taking behaviors tendency was positive and significant. Results also indicated that emotion regulation could play a significant role as a moderating variable in the relationship between early maladaptive schemas and risk-taking behaviors tendency. Therefore, emotion regulation as an effective factor in preventing tendency to risky behavior, can be considered by coaches, counselors and other educational officials.

References:

Abbasi, E., Rajaei, A., Bayazi, M. H., & Jafarian Yasar, H. (2021). Predicting the Adolescents’ Tendency to High-Risk Behaviors According to Parenting Style and Healthy Life Style. Medical journal of mashhad university of medical sciences, 64(2), https://doi.org/10.22038/mjms.2021.18712.[persian]
abdzadeh, S., Azemoudeh, M., Abdullahpour, M., & livarjani, S. (2022). Structural Model of the Mediating Role of Negative Emotion in the Relationship Between Early Maladaptive Schemas with Adolescent Psychological Distress Experience. Journal of Instruction and Evaluation, 15(57),83-104. https://doi.org/10.30495/jinev.2021.1924267.2445.[persian]
Abdzadeh, S., azmoodeh, M., Abodlahpoor, A., & Livarjani, S. (2019). The relationship between early maladaptive schemas and academic procrastination with high-risk behaviors; Case Study of Secondary School Students in Miandoab City. Social Science Quarterly, (), -.
Ablouch, S., & Younesi, F. (2018). Comparison of perceived parenting styles and risky behaviors in delinquent and normal male and female adolescents in Shiraz. Fifth International Conference on Psychology, Educational Sciences and Lifestyle. Qazvin. [persian]
Akbari, E., Azimi, Z., Talebi, S., & Fahimi, S. (2020). Prediction of Couples' Emotional Divorce Based on Early Maladaptive Schemas and Emotion Regulation's Components. Clinical Psychology and Personality, 14(2), 79-92. https://doi.org/10.22070/14.2.79.[persian]
Alsouki, L., Duval, L., Marteau, C., Haddad, R. E., & Wahl, F. (2023). Dual-sPLS: a family of Dual Sparse Partial Least Squares regressions for feature selection and prediction with tunable sparsity; Evaluation on simulated and near-infrared data. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2301.07206
Ardabadi, S. & Mohammadi-Soureh, F. (2017). The effect of cognitive emotion regulation strategies on risky behaviors in adolescents and youth. Studies in Social Sciences, 3(2), 18-24. [persian]
Banstola, R.S., Ogino, T., Inoue, S. (2020). Self-esteem, perceived social support, social capital, and risk-behavior among urban high school adolescents in Nepal. SSM - Population Health, 11, 100-105
Barr, A., Owens, A., & Perera, A. (2020). Risk talking and sharing when risk exposure is interdependent. Journal of economic behavior & organization, 176, 445-460.
Basile, B., Tenore, K., & Mancini, F. (2019). Early maladaptive schemas in overweight and obesity: A
schema mode model. Heliyon, 5(9), e02361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02361

Blakemore, S. J., & Mills, K. L. (2014). Is adolescence a sensitive period for sociocultural processing? . Annual review of psychology, 65, 187-207.
Cicchetti, D., Ackerman, B., & Izard, C. (1995). Emotions and emotion regulation in developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 1-10.

Cohen, J. E. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. https://www.utstat.toronto.edu/~brunner/oldclass/378f16/readings/CohenPower.pdf
Dalstrom, M., Parizek, K., Doughty, A. 2020). Nurse Practitioners and Adolescents: Productive Discussions About High-Risk Behaviors. The Journal for Nurse Practitioners, 16(2), 143-145
Dillon, D.G., Ritchey, M., Johnson, B.D., & LaBar, K.S. (2007). Dissociable effects of conscious emotion regulation strategies on explicit and implicit memory. Emotion, 7 (2), 354-65. doi: https://doi.org/10.22070/14.2.79
Gerdroodbari, E., Emadian, S. O., & Mirzaeian, B. (2021). The effectiveness of family education classes on parental bonding and high-risk behaviors among adolescents. Ebnesina, 23(3), 43-51. [persian]
Eckert, M., Ebert, D. D., Lehr, D., Sieland, B., & Berking, M. (2016). Overcome procrastination: Enhancing emotion regulation skills reduce procrastination. Learning and Individual Differences, 52, 10-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.10.001
esmailian, M., mohamadkhani, S., & Hasani, J. (2021). Structural equation modeling of mindfulness skills, emotion regulation and anxiety sensitivity with social anxiety in Adolescent. Knowledge & Research in Applied psychology, 22(1), 121-134. https://doi.org/10.30486/jsrp.2020.548142.0.[persian]
Essau, C. A., LeBlanc, S. S., & Ollendick, T. H. (Eds.). (2017). Emotion regulation and psychopathology in children and adolescents. Oxford University Press.
Extremera N, Durán A and Rey L (2017) (Perceived emotional intelligence and dispositional optimism–pessimism: Analyzing their role in predicting psychological adjustment among adolescents. Personality and Individual differences. 42 (6): 1069-1079. Retrieved from: https://www.journals.elsevier.com
Garnefski, N., Kraaij, V., Schroevers, M. J., Aarnink, J., van der Heijden, D. J., van Es, S. M., van Herpen, M., & Somsen, G. A. (2009). Cognitive coping and goal adjustment after first-time myocardial infarction: relationships with symptoms of depression. Behavioral medicine (Washington, D.C.), 35(3), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964280903232068
Ghasemi, S., & Sharifi, K. (2018). Investigating the comparison of early maladaptive schema, emotional quotient, and social adjustment in adolescents with tendencies towards dangerous behavior and normal adolescents. Rooyesh Journal, 6(4), 45-72. [persian]
Grant, M., Salsman, N. L., & Berking, M. (2018). The assessment of successful emotion regulation skills use: Development and validation of an English version of the Emotion Regulation Skills Questionnaire. PloS one, 13(10), e0205095. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0205095

Hallfors D, Cho H, Brodish PH, Khatapoush S. (2018) Identifying high school students " at risk " for substance use and other behavioral problems: implications for prevention. Substance use Misuse ، 41 (1): 1-15
Hasani, J. (2010). The Psychometric Properties of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2(3), 73-84. https://doi.org/10.22075/jcp.2017.2031.[persian]
Hong, R. Y., & Paunonen, S. V. (2019). Personality traits and health-risk behaviours in university students. European Journal of Personality, 23 (8), 675-696.
James, G., Witten, D., Hastie, T., and Tibshirani, R. (eds.). (2013). An introduction to statistical learning: with applications in R. New York: Springer.
Khebreh, S., & Golshani, F. (2021). A study on the Relationship between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Five Personality Factors with Impulsivity in Young People with Tattoos. Quarterly Journal of Health Psychology and Social Behavior, 1(1), 65-82. Doi: 10.30495/HPSBJOURNA.2021.681110. [persian]
Khosravani, V., Sharifi Bastan, F., Samimi Ardestani, M., & Jamaati Ardakani, R. (2017). Early maladaptive schemas and suicidal risk in an Iranian sample of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Psychiatry research, 255, 441–448. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.06.080.[persian]
Kim, H. M., & Miller, L. C. (2020). Are insecure attachment styles related to risky sexual behavior? A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 39(1), 46
kohansal nalkiashari, S., Asadi Majreh, S., & Akbari, B. (2022). Presenting a structural model of the effect of family emotional atmosphere on high-risk behaviors with mediation of resilience and emotion regulation in high school male students. Knowledge & Research in Applied psychology, 23(3), 13-27. https://doi.org/10.30486/jsrp.2021.1940802.3176.[persian]
kohansal nalkiashari, S., Asadi Mujara, S., & Akbari, B. (2022). Presenting a structural model of the relationship between perceived parenting styles and high-risk behaviors through mediation of resilience and emotion regulation in adolescents. Psychological Methods and Models, 13(47), 101-116. https://doi.org/10.30495/jpmm.2022.28995.3493.[persian]
Lennarz, H. K., Hollenstein, T., Lichtwarck-Aschoff, A., Kuntsche, E., & Granic, I. (2019). Emotion regulation in action: Use, selection, and success of emotion regulation in adolescents’ daily lives. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/0165025418755540
Lin, P. Y., Lin, H. C., Lin, P. C., Yen, J. Y., & Ko, C. H. (2020). The association between Emotional Regulation and Internet Gaming Disorder. Psychiatry research, 289,113060 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113060

Loehlin, J. C. (2004). Latent Variable Models (4th ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
maleki, M., Mohagheghi, H., & Nabizadeh, S. (2019). Prediction of high-risk behaviors based on anger rumination and emotional expressiveness. Thoughts and Behavior in Clinical Psychology, 14(52), 7-16. [persian]
Marengo, S. M., Klibert, J., Langhinrichsen-Rohling, J., Warren, J., & Smalley, K. B. (2019). The relationship of early maladaptive schemas and anticipated risky behaviors in college students. Journal of Adult Development, 26(3), 190-200.
Mauss, I. B., Cook, C. L., Cheng, J. Y., & Gross, J. J. (2007). Individual differences in cognitive reappraisal: experiential and physiological responses to an anger provocation. International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology, 66(2), 116–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2007.03.017
Mirzaei Feyzabadi, S., Molavi, E., & Taheri, N. (2019). The relationship between emotional regulation and cognitive inhibition for tendency to risky behaviors in girl adolescents in Mashhad. Scientific Journal of Social Psychology, 7(52), 123-136. [persian]
mizani, S., Rezaei, A., khayyer, M., & Sohrabi, N. (2021). The Mediating Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation for Maladaptive Schemas and Negative Affects Among Youth. Psychological Methods and Models, 12(43), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.30495/jpmm.2021.4712.[persian]
Moaveneslami, S., & Deldadeh, M. (2020). Relationship between early maladaptive schemas and high-risk behaviors among patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Journal of Nursing and Interprofessional Practice, 5(9), 1-8. [persian]
Mohajel Razaei, S., A., Alizadeh, F., & Borhanizadeh, Sh. (2017). The relationship between dimensions of perfectionism, social support, and tendency towards risky behaviors in students. Paper presented at the Congress of the Iranian Psychological Association.Tehran. [persian]
Mohammadkhani, S., Hasani, J., Akbari, M., & Yazdanpanah, N. (2020). Mediating role of emotion regulation in the relationship of metacognitive beliefs and attachment styles with risky behaviors in children of Iran-Iraq War veterans with psychiatric disorders. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 25(4), 396-411. [persian]
Mollakrmi, A. (2019). Investigation of emotion regulation strategies on risky behaviors during adolescence. International Conference on Educational Sciences, Psychology, Counseling, Teaching and Research, Tehran. [persian]
Munuera, C., Roux, P., Weil, F., Passerieux, C., & M'Bailara, K. (2020). Determinants of the remission heterogeneity in bipolar disorders: the importance of early maladaptive schemas (EMS). Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 857-868.
Oettingen, J., Chodkiewicz, J., Mącik, D., & Gruszczyńska, E. (2018). Polish adaptation of the Young Schema Questionnaire 3 Short Form (YSQ-S3-PL). Polska adaptacja i walidacja krótkiej wersji Kwestionariusza Schematów Younga (YSQ-S3-PL). Psychiatria polska, 52(4), 707–718. https://doi.org/10.12740/PP/OnlineFirst/76541

Poursaeide isfahani, M., Sharifi, H., & Akrami, N. (2021). Predicting high-risk behavior based on self-differentiation and interpersonal problems in female students. Rooyesh-e-Ravanshenasi, 10(3), 55-64.
Roemmele, M., & Messman-Moore, T. L. (2011). Child abuse, early maladaptive schemas, and risky sexual behavior in college women. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 20(3), 264-283
Roper, L., Dickson, J, M., Tinwell, C., Boot, P, G., McGuire, J. (2010). Maladaptive cognitive schemas in alcohol dependence: Changes associated with a brief residential abstinence program. Cognitive Therapy Research, 34(3), 207-215
Ruiz de Lara, C. M., Navas, J. F., & Perales, J. C. (2019). The paradoxical relationship between emotion regulation and gambling-related cognitive biases. PloS one, 14(8), e0220668. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0220668

Sadoghi, Z., Aguilar-Vafaei, M. E., Rasoulzade Tabatabaei, K., & Esfehanian, N. (2008). Factor analysis of the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form in a nonclinical Iranian sample. Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology, 14(2), 214-219. [persian]
Sedighi arfaee, F., Rashidi, A., & Tabesh, R. (2022). Predicting the Occurrence of High-Risk Behaviors based on Behavioral-Psychological Control and Helicopter Parenting in Emerging Adulthood. Research in Clinical Psychology and Counseling, 11(2), 77-94.
https://doi.org/10.22067/tpccp.2022.67725.1005.[persian]

Sharifbastan, F., Yazdi, S., & Zahraei, S. (2016). The role of cognitive emotion regulation and positive and negative affect in resiliency of women with breast cancer. Iranian Journal of Psychiatric Nursing, 4(2), 38-49. [persian]
Staats, S., van der Valk, I. E., Meeus, W. H. J., & Branje, S. J. T. (2018). Longitudinal Transmission of Conflict Management Styles Across Inter-Parental and Adolescent Relationships. Journal of research on adolescence : the official journal of the Society for Research on Adolescence, 28(1), 169–185. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12324
Steinberg, L., Icenogle, G., Shulman, E. P., Breiner, K., Chein, J., Bacchini, D., & et al. (2018). Around the world, adolescence is a time of heightened sensation seeking and immature self-regulation. Developmental science, 21(2), 10.1111/desc.12532. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.12532
Stone, F.; Gaiser, Eric M. (1974). The Contingent Value of Responsive and Proactive Market Orientations for New Product Program Performance, Journal of product innovation management, Vol. 22, Issue 6, 646-482. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5885.2005.00144.x
Tenenhaus, M., Amato, S., Esposito Vinzi, V. (2004). A global goodness-offit index for PLS structural equation modeling, Proceedings of the XLII SIS Scientific Meeting, Vol. Contributed Papers, CLEUP, Padova. 739–742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csda.2004.03.005
Vaezi, A., & Khoshravesh, V. (2018). Investigating the role of early maladaptive schemas in predicting high-risk behaviors in students. Seventh Scientific Research Conference on Educational Sciences and Psychology, Social and Cultural Injuries in Iran. Tehran. [persian]
Yakın, D., Gençöz, T., Steenbergen, L., & Arntz, A. (2019). An integrative perspective on the interplay between early maladaptive schemas and mental health: The role of self-compassion and emotion regulation. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 75(6), 1098-1113.
Young, K. S., Sandman, C. F., & Craske, M. G. (2019). Positive and Negative Emotion Regulation in Adolescence: Links to Anxiety and Depression. Brain sciences, 9(4), 76. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9040076
Zade Mohammadi, A., & Ahmadabadi, Z. (2008). Study of high-risk behaviors among adolescents. Strategic Crime Prevention Family, 467-485. [persian]
Zamirynezhad, S., Hojat, S. K., Moslem, A., MoghaddamHossini, V., & Akaberi, A. (2018). Predicting the Risk of Opioid Use Disorder Based on Early Maladaptive Schemas. American journal of men's health, 12(2), 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1177/1557988317742230.[persian]