Cognitive emotion regulation mediates the relationship between big-five personality traits and internet use disorder tendencies

Mounting evidence suggests that personality traits are associated with Internet Use Disorder (IUD) tendencies. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Here, we test the assertion that cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) mediate this association. To this end, 710 students and staff (337 females) from six universities in Iran reported their Big Five personality traits, CERS, and IUD tendencies. Structural equation modeling results showed that agreeableness, openness to experience and conscientiousness were negatively associated with IUD tendencies, neuroticism was positively associated with IUD tendencies, and extraversion showed no association. CERS partially mediated the association between personality and IUD tendencies. These findings highlight the need to further study cognitive emotion regulation strategies and additional mechanisms to explain why some individuals and not others develop IUD.