• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.33-44
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• 2017

The ultimate purpose of psychotherapy is to identify covert causes of a psychological problem and then to modify and change the causes. The goal of this study is also to make contribution to SNS addiction intervention program development through exploring the covert causes of SNS addiction which recently became social issue. Previous research identified such overt causes of SNS addiction as maladaptive self-concept (e.g., low self-esteem), maladaptive personality (e.g., strong narcissism) and strong negative emotions (e.g., high level of anxiety). Based on previous research, the study explored early maladaptive schema (i.e., cognitive dimension) and emotion dysregulation (i.e., emotional dimension) as the covert causes of SNS addiction and conceptually developed psychological maladaptive mechanism of 'early maladaptive schema ${\rightarrow}$ emotion dysregulation ${\rightarrow}$ SNS addiction.' As a result of a survey with respondents in their 20's who are at high risk for SNS addiction, the mechanism was confirmed for females. However, a significant relationship of 'early maladaptive schema ${\rightarrow}$ SNS addiction' was found for males. The findings offer an implication that interventions of early maladaptive schema for males and females in their 20's and interventions of emotion dysregulation for females in their 20's can fundamentally help cure their SNS addiction.