The tendency to cyberspace addiction in students: The predictive role of ambivalence over emotional expression and social self-efficacy

Problems caused by the overuse of cell phones have led to negative consequences in students' everyday life; Therefore, the present study was performed to investigate the predictive role of ambivalence over emotional expression and social self-efficacy in relation to cyber addiction tendency in students. The research method was descriptive-correlational and the research sample consisted of 250 high school students who were studying in Mashhad during the academic year 2020-2021, and participated in the research by Convenience Sampling method, internet-applied one, through social media by distributing the link of online questionnaire (online press), and responded to the Sevari Mobile Phone Addiction Scale (MPAS) (2014), Ambivalence over Emotional Expression Questionnaire (1990), And the Connolly Adolescent Social Self-Efficacy Scale (SSES) (1989). The collected Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation test and multiple regression analysis. The results showed that addiction to cyberspace has a negative relationship with social self-efficacy and a positive relationship with ambivalence over emotional expression. Therefore, psychologists should take necessary actions to reduce the severity of attachment on cyberspace in this vulnerable group of society by teaching them appropriate policies to reduce emotional, cognitive, and social problems in students.