ArticleFrontiers in psychology2021
Maladaptive Daydreaming in an Adult Italian Population During the COVID-19 Lockdown.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 36 citations in OpenAlex.
- Maladaptive Daydreaming and Psychopathology: A Meta-Analysis.International journal of psychology : Journal international de psychologie · 2025Pooled it
- Introducing the addictive daydreaming scale: development and Polish validation of the ADS-20 and ADS-5.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
- Anxiety, Depression, Emotion Regulation, and Daytime Sleepiness: Are There Links Between These Factors? Network Analysis on an Italian Sample During the Covid-19 Pandemic.Clinical neuropsychiatry · 2023Article
- Immersive and maladaptive daydreaming and divergent thinking in autism spectrum disorders.Imagination, cognition and personality · 2023Article
- Longitudinal associations between maladaptive daydreaming and psychological distress during the COVID-19 health crisis.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2023Article
- The Mediating Role of Emotion Dysregulation and Problematic Internet Use in the Relationship Between Negative Affect and Excessive Daytime Sleepiness: A Structural Equation Model.Nature and science of sleep · 2022Article
- The Relationship Between Resilience and Sleep Quality During the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Longitudinal Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2022Article
- Maladaptive Daydreaming in Relation to Linguistic Features and Attachment Style.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Perceived Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic Mediates the Association Between Self-quarantine Factors and Psychological Characteristics and Elevated Maladaptive Daydreaming.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2021Article
- Dreaming during lockdown: a quali-quantitative analysis of the Italian population dreams during the first COVID-19 pandemic wave.Research in psychotherapy (Milano) · 2021Article
- The Relationship between Psychological Distress during the Second Wave Lockdown of COVID-19 and Emotional Eating in Italian Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Emotional Dysregulation.Journal of personalized medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 12 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During the COVID-19 outbreak, individuals with or without mental disorders may resort to dysfunctional psychological strategies that could trigger or heighten their emotional distress. The current study aims to explore the links between maladaptive daydreaming (MD, i.e., a compulsive fantasy activity associated with distress and psychological impairment), psychological symptoms of depression, anxiety, and negative stress, and COVID-19-related variables, such as changes in face-to-face and online relationships, during the COVID-19 lockdown in Italy. A total of 6,277 Italian adults completed an online survey, including socio-demographic variables, COVID-19 related information, the 16-item Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS-16), and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales-21 Items (DASS-21). Based on an empirically derived cut-off score, 1,082 participants (17.2%) were identified as probable maladaptive daydreamers (MDers). A binary logistic regression revealed that compared to controls, probable MDers reported that during the COVID-19 lockdown they experienced higher levels of anxiety and depression, decreased online social relationships, and, surprisingly, stable or increased face-to-face social relationships. Given the peculiar characteristics of the pandemic context, these findings suggest that the exposure to the risk of contagion had probably exacerbated the tendency of probable MDers to lock themselves inside their mental fantasy worlds, which in turn may have contributed to further estrangement from online social relationships and support, thus worsening their emotional distress.
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