ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicWomen in Psychiatry 2025: Addictive DisordersView all articles
Introducing the Addictive Daydreaming Scale: Development and Polish Validation of the ADS-20 and ADS-5
Provisionally accepted
- 1Research Centre for Trauma and Dissociation, Ignatianum University in Cracow, Cracow, Poland
- 2Uniwersytet SWPS, Warsaw, Poland
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Background and Aims Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a pattern of excessive, compulsive fantasizing associated with functional impairment. While its classification remains debated, increasing evidence suggests that it may be understood as an addictive form of emotion regulation. This study aimed to develop and validate a new self-report tool, grounded in the behavioral addiction framework, for screening and assessing the severity of MD, and to examine its potential clinical utility. Methods A mixed-clinical (N = 182) and non-clinical (N = 231) sample completed the Addictive Daydreaming Scale (ADS) in two forms: a 20-item full version (ADS-20) and a 5-item screening test (ADS-5), together with established measures of MD, quality of life, and self-rated impact of daydreaming. Results Psychometric analyses confirmed that both the ADS-20 and ADS-5 demonstrated high reliability and strong content, criterion, and construct validity. ADS scores were more strongly correlated with both the psychological and social domains of quality of life than Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale scores, supporting its sensitivity to functional impairment. Cut-off scores of ≥42 (ADS-20) and ≥8 (ADS-5) showed good accuracy for identifying clinically significant cases. Conclusions The ADS-20 and ADS-5 are reliable, valid instruments for identifying and assessing addictive features of maladaptive daydreaming. Their use may support improved clinical detection, assessing the severity of MD and help conceptualize it within the behavioral addictions framework.
Keywords: Maladaptive daydreaming, addictive daydreaming, Psychometric validation, scale development, screening tool, compulsive fantasizing
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pietkiewicz, Hełka and Tomalski. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Igor J. Pietkiewicz
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