The association between maladaptive daydreaming and eating and obsessive-compulsive disorders in the general population: the mediating role of alexithymia
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Maladaptive daydreaming (MD) is a recently defined clinical condition characterized by an excessively immersive utilization of fantasy and imagination which can significantly impact both professional and social life. International literature has linked MD to obsessive-compulsive symptoms, but its association with alexithymia remains largely unexplored, and its connection to eating disorder symptoms is even more neglected. As a marker of affect regulation difficulties, alexithymia may heighten the risk and severity of MD, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Therefore, the general aim of the present study is to contribute to the study of MD in the general population, by examining potential associations between MD levels, eating disorders, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and affect regulation capabilities. Additionally, the study aims to examine whether alexithymia mediates the relationship between eating and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, respectively, and MD levels. 562 participants (mean age = 27.16 years; SD = 10.21; 68% females) completed an online survey comprising: a socio-demographic questionnaire, the Maladaptive Daydreaming Scale (MDS), the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), and the Obsessional Beliefs Questionnaire (OBQ-44). MDS score was positively related to TAS-20 total, difficulties in identifying and describing feelings as well as with eating disorders and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Age showed a weak negative association with MDS. Regarding the mediation models, alexithymia significantly amplified the impact of eating/obsessive-compulsive symptoms on MD. The associations emerging by present study seem to support a common functioning of these clinical conditions based on maladaptive/compulsive behaviours/thought/fantasy, as strategy to regulate painful emotions. Further studies comparing these clinical populations are still needed.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".