SHAKINAH SHIRIN, co-author

HANIYYAH AZMAN, co-author

SEGI UNIVERSITY KOTA DAMANSARA, ENGLISH & PR.

PURPOSE OF STUDY

An article by Somer and Herscu (2017) presents a strong interconnectedness between

childhood adversity, social phobia, immersion and addiction to fantasy, to maladaptive

daydreaming – an understudied disorder that involves indulgence in compulsive reveries as a

form of coping mechanism. Somer, who first identified the disorder (Kandola, 2021), and

Herscu aim to address how these four variables contribute to the development of the disorder,

thus exploring the intervening roles of fantasy dependence and absorption in connecting

childhood plight and social agitation to maladaptive daydreaming. Consequently, they

hypothesize that the four variables are interrelated with maladaptive daydreaming via

mediators; childhood hardship needs fantasy dependence and absorption, while social anxiety

only requires fantasy addiction to form a path to the disorder. In the study, the independent

variables are childhood hardship and social anxiety; mediating variables are fantasy addiction

and absorption; and the dependent variable is maladaptive daydreaming itself.

METHODOLOGY

The research design was cross-sectional and conducted in-campus with six questionnaires as

its instruments. The researchers sought students’ voluntary engagement in classes with

permission and enlightened consenting participants on the study’s topic and aims.

Additionally, the researchers performed a back translation for each instrument to ensure

accuracy in meaning. One questionnaire was for socio-demographic information, and the rest
measured the five variables respectively. Out of 530 total students the researchers had

accessed, 60% agreed to partake. Demographically, 70% of 315 participants were females;

80% were between 20-30 years old; religiously, the majority was Jewish (83%).

Academically, most were social science students (51%) and undergraduates (71%);

personally, most were single (59%). Furthermore, all five questionnaires used the Likert

scale. Post-participation, each instrument went through internal consistency assessment,

which all scored high. Thus, the data collected was reliable.

RESULTS

Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was used to gauge the effect size between maladaptive

daydreaming and the study’s independent and mediating variables. The research discovered

that the disorder and independent variables had moderate effect sizes, whereas the

intervening variables had large effect sizes. The researchers found that the independent

factors correlated, and thus were controlled to measure their accurate impact on the disorder.

Interestingly, the independent factors lost practical significance while the effect sizes of the

mediating variables were reduced – indicating mediation. Furthermore, this suggested that the

independent variables are two separate and mediated trajectories towards maladaptive

daydreaming. This illustrated the importance of mediating factors in the development of the

disorder, responsible for 65% of the variance. Without the mediators, the independent

variables would be rendered insignificant. Further analysis of the mediation verified the

assumptions that childhood adversity required both mediating variables to be associated with

the disorder, whereas social anxiety did not require absorption to do so.

DISCUSSION
The data is consistent with the hypotheses that the independent and mediating variables are

interrelated with maladaptive daydreaming, and that there are two separate trajectories. This

also shows the importance of the mediators. The research corroborated past studies on the

disorder, such as being intractable (Marks, 1990). Moreover, the work contributes to the

research on maladaptive daydreaming in particular and psychological dyscontrol in general.

Three factors, however, limited the study: overlapping questions in two instruments, an

exclusively Israeli sample, and a cross-sectional research design. Therefore, Somer and

Herscu recommend that future researchers replicate the study in other countries and employ a

longitudinal design, which is a better-fitted approach to study developmental disorders.

REFERENCES

1. Somer, E., & Herscu, O. (2017). Childhood Trauma, Social Anxiety, Absorption and Fantasy
Dependence: Two Potential Mediated Pathways to Maladaptive Daydreaming. Journal of
Addictive Behaviors, Therapy & Rehabilitation, 6(3). doi:10.4172/2324-9005.1000170

2. Kandola, A. (2021, April 20). What to know about maladaptive daydreaming. Retrieved from
Medical News Today: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/319400

3. Marks, I. (1990). Behavioural (non-chemical) addictions. Addiction, 85(11), 1389-1394.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1360-0443.1990.tb01618.x