{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T06:11:29Z","timestamp":1790143889001,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":57,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1790121600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003051","name":"New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["JPJ012495"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JPJ012495"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003051","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>With the continuous expansion of socially immersive \u201cmetaverse\u201d platforms, concerns regarding dependence-like tendencies associated with avatar-based virtual environments have grown. However, validated instruments that capture the psychosomatic and immersion-related characteristics central to such environments remain scarce. To address this gap, this study developed and preliminarily validated the Metaverse Dependency-Related Experiences Scale (MDRES), a self-report measure that assesses dependence-like tendencies in communication-oriented virtual environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>This research comprised two studies. Study 1 included the following two phases: Phase 1 involved qualitative item generation based on open-ended responses from active metaverse users, while Phase 2 involved item reduction and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using the candidate items. Study 2 conducted confirmatory factor analysis and examined associations between the MDRES and theoretically relevant external variables.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>In Study 1 Phase 1, qualitative responses were utilized to generate an initial pool of 52 candidate items. In Study 1 Phase 2, these 52 candidate items were administered, and EFA identified a six-factor, 39-item structure, including Reality Avoidance (\u03b1 = 0.93), Confusion Between Physical and Virtual Spaces (\u03b1 = 0.91), Awareness of Physical Symptoms (\u03b1 = 0.85), Sleep Disturbance-Like Symptoms (\u03b1 = 0.89), Physical Discomfort\/Sensory Abnormalities (\u03b1 = 0.85), and Stress Relief (\u03b1 = 0.54). In Study 2, the six-factor structure received initial confirmatory support, while the MDRES subscales exhibited theoretically coherent associations with psychological distress, mood, somatic symptoms, mental health-related indicators, and game engagement.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Overall, the MDRES highlights the multidimensional, psychosomatic, and ambivalent nature (risk-related and stress-relieving) of metaverse involvement and offers a conceptually grounded tool for future work on dependence processes in immersive virtual environments.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1814271","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]],"date-time":"2026-09-23T05:54:03Z","timestamp":1790142843000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Metaverse dependency as a psychosomatic risk of immersive platforms: development and validation of the Metaverse Dependency-Related Experiences Scale"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Takuto","family":"Homma","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology","place":["Tsukuba, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Naoki","family":"Konishi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology","place":["Tsukuba, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ryohei","family":"Umetani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology","place":["Tsukuba, Japan"]},{"name":"Organization for the Strategic Coordination of Research and Intellectual Property, Meiji University","place":["Suginami, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jin","family":"Kato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Social Sciences, Hokuriku Gakuin University","place":["Kanazawa, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Takemasa","family":"Yokoyama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Information Technology and Human Factors, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology","place":["Tsukuba, Japan"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"701","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2024.08.193","article-title":"Social media use, mental health and sleep: A systematic review with meta-analyses.","volume":"367","author":"Ahmed","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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