Is the Relationship Between Early Maladaptive Schemas and Psychological Distress Indirect?

According to Young (1998), Early Maladaptive Schemas (EMS) develop during childhood and serve as a mechanism through which life experiences are viewed (negatively). These schemas have been shown to increase an individual’s cognitive vulnerability to various mental disorders and have thus been the focus of heavy research. Although the effects of EMS on psychological distress have been thoroughly observed, the degree to which these effects remain direct has not. Thus, it was hypothesized that the relationship between EMS and psychological distress is indirect. Furthermore, it was also hypothesized that emotion regulation, experiential avoidance, psychological flexibility, cognitive flexibility, and mindfulness were potential mediators of this relationship. Participants were made up of adult undergraduate students from the California State University San Bernardino campus (N=178; M= 63, F= 115) and were awarded course credit for taking part in the study. A total of seven self-report measures were used along with a demographics sheet, where information about personal and family background was recorded. The measures included the Schema Questionnaire – Short Form (SQ-SF; Young, 1998); the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ; Baer, Smith, Hopkins, Krietemeyer & Toney, 2006); the Brief Symptom Index-18 (BSI-18; Zabora, BrintzenhofeSzoc, Jacobsen, Curbow, Piantadosi, Hooker, Owens, and Derogatis, 2001); the Multidimensional Experiential Avoidance Questionnaire (MEAQ; Gamez, Chmielewski, Kotov, Ruggero & Watson, 2011); the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross & John, 2003); the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II (AAQ; Bond, Hayes, Baer, Carpenter, Guenole, Orcutt, Waltz, & Zettle, 2011); and the Cognitive Flexibility Inventory (CFI; Dennis & Vander Wal, 2010). An analysis of preliminary data indicated that mindfulness, psychological flexibility, cognitive flexibility, and experiential avoidance mediated the relationship between EMS and psychological distress; emotion regulation was not. These results were shown to be true for the EMS domain of Disconnection and Rejection, which refers to the expectation that certain core needs may not be met with certainty. Implications for clinical therapy and future research are discussed