Mahdi Gharagozlou - Psychological Injuries Research Centre, Ilam University of Medical Sciences, Ilam, Iran
Farangis Sharifi Bastan - Faculty of psychology, Islamic Azad University, Karaj branch, Iran
Mahdi Gharagozlou

Background and Aim : One of the most popular social media is virtual social networking as students have better media literacy, they apply these networks more. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the early maladaptive schemas and attachment styles with the use of virtual networks in students in Karaj city.Methods : Research sample consisted of 200 students studied during 2016-2017 in different universities in Karaj selected by multistage cluster random sampling method. Bergen Facebook Addiction scale, Young early maladaptive schemas, and Collins and Reid adult attachment style are used as tools.Results : Analyses showed a positive and significant relationship among maladaptive schemas in area of self-regulation and disruptive performance, disturbing restrictions, deserving and grandiosity, hyper vigilance and inhibition of using virtual networks. Also the results of step by step regression showed that from early maladaptive schemas, the disconnection and rejection schema, and from attachment styles the anxiety attachment, played the most important role in predicting social networking addiction.Conclusion : The findings indicate the role of unhealthy experiences of early years of life and attachment styles in tendency to use virtual networks. Therefore, designing appropriate educational and treatment interventions can take an effective step towards managing the use of virtual networks in students

maladaptive schemas, students, virtual networks, social networking addiction