ArticleJournal of behavioral addictions2020
Different cultures, similar daydream addiction? An examination of the cross-cultural measurement equivalence of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale.
Article in Journal of behavioral addictions, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maladaptive Daydreaming and Psychopathology: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie · 2025Pooled it
- Was that really me? Relationships between memory and sense of self in people with maladaptive daydreaming.The British journal of clinical psychology · 2026Article
- Dissociative experiences among Kenyan youth in the Nairobi metropolitan area: Associations with psychosis risk symptoms.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2026Article
- Development and validation of a new yearning induction task: a cross-cultural study of Chinese and Swiss bereaved.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- Where Is My Mind? The Daydreaming Characteristics Questionnaire, a New Tool to Differentiate Absorptive Daydreaming From Mind-Wandering.Journal of attention disorders · 2025Article
- Assessing daydreaming frequency and control with the Polish version of the Daydreaming Frequency Scale - validation using ecological momentary assessment.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Longitudinal associations between maladaptive daydreaming and psychological distress during the COVID-19 health crisis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2023Article
- Childhood traumatization and dissociative experiences among maladaptive and normal daydreamers in a Hungarian sample.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2023Article
- Could immersive daydreaming underlie a deficit in attention? The prevalence and characteristics of maladaptive daydreaming in individuals with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.Journal of clinical psychology · 2022Article
- The contribution of latent factors of executive functioning to mind wandering: an experience sampling study.Cognitive research: principles and implications · 2022Article
- Maladaptive Daydreaming: Epidemiological Data on a Newly Identified Syndrome.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Reality shifting: psychological features of an emergent online daydreaming culture.Current psychology (New Brunswick, N.J.) · 2021Article
- Maladaptive Daydreaming in an Adult Italian Population During the COVID-19 Lockdown.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 5 institutions in 4 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsMaladaptive Daydreaming (MD) is a proposed mental disorder, in which absorption in rich, narrative fantasy becomes addictive and compulsive, resulting in emotional, social, vocational, or academic dysfunction. Most studies on MD were carried out on aggregated international samples, using translated versions of the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16). However, it is unknown whether the properties of MD are affected by culture. Thus, we investigated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the MDS-16.
methodsWe recruited both individuals self-identified as suffering from MD and non-clinical community participants from four countries: the USA, Italy, Turkey, and the UK (N = 1,081).
resultsConfigural invariance was shown, suggesting that the hypothesized four-factor structure of the MDS-16 (including Yearning, Impairment, Kinesthesia, and Music) holds across cultures. Metric invariance was shown for Impairment, Kinesthesia, and Music, but not for Yearning, suggesting that the psychological meaning of the latter factor may be understood differently across cultures. Scalar invariance was not found, as MD levels were higher in the USA and UK, probably due to the over-representation of English-speaking members of MD communities, who volunteered for the study. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsWe conclude that the urge to be absorbed in daydreaming and the fantasies' comforting and addictive properties may have different meanings across countries, but the interference of MD to one's daily life and its obstruction of long-term goals may be the central defining factor of MD.
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