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Correlational Study
| Published: March 22, 2026
From Escape to Entrapment: A Correlational Study between Maladaptive Daydreaming, Emotional Regulation Difficulties, & Daydreaming Content
Student, Nowrosjee Wadia College (Autonomous, Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University), Maharashtra
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Assistant Professor, Nowrosjee Wadia College (Autonomous, Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University), Maharashtra
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DIP: 18.01.174.20261401
DOI: 10.25215/1401.174
ABSTRACT
Maladaptive Daydreaming (MD) involves excessive immersive fantasy disrupting functioning as maladaptive emotion regulation. Examined MD-emotion regulation correlations in 95 Indian young adults (18-30, Tier 1/2 cities) using MDS-16, DERS-16, ERQ-10, IDCC. Spearman correlations: global DERS ρ=.37 p<.001, impulse control ρ=.25 p<.01, strategies ρ=.37 p<.001; suppression ρ=.07 p=.52 (ns). IDCC showed power/control, escape, relationship themes. MD links to regulation deficits in Indian youth; DBT‑informed interventions recommended. Limitations: convenience sampling and cross-sectional design.
Keywords
Escape, Entrapment, Maladaptive Daydreaming, Emotional Regulation Difficulties, Daydreaming Content
This is an Open Access Research distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any Medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
© 2026, Gaware, G. & Kakade, S.
Received: December 18, 2025; Revision Received: March 18, 2026; Accepted: March 22, 2026
Gracey Gaware @ graceygaware7@gmail.com
Article Overview
ISSN 2348-5396
ISSN 2349-3429
18.01.174.20261401
10.25215/1401.174
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Published in Volume 14, Issue 1, January-March, 2026