Different cultures, similar daydream addiction?Nov 7, 20201 min readIt is unknown whether the properties of MD are affected by culture. Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek and a team of ICMDR researchers investigated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the MDS-16. The paper was published last night in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.We 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). 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 yearning 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. We 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 core universal defining factor of MD.
It is unknown whether the properties of MD are affected by culture. Dr. Nirit Soffer-Dudek and a team of ICMDR researchers investigated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the MDS-16. The paper was published last night in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions.We 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). 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 yearning 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. We 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 core universal defining factor of MD.
