Introduction Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by persistent difficulties in social communication and interaction. Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a promising technology for supporting social skill development in children with ASD. This umbrella review synthesizes evidence from existing systematic reviews to evaluate the effectiveness of VR‐based interventions in improving social functioning among children aged 3–15 years. Methods This review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) methodology for umbrella reviews and adhered to PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. The methodological quality of the included reviews was assessed using the JBI Critical Appraisal Checklist. Six systematic reviews met the eligibility criteria. Results VR‐based interventions were associated with improvements across three key social skill domains in children and adolescents with ASD: social interaction (e.g., turn‐taking and joint attention), communication skills (e.g., verbal and nonverbal expression), and social understanding (e.g., emotion recognition and perspective‐taking). Overall, the strength of the evidence was moderate, largely due to heterogeneity in study quality, intervention characteristics, and outcome measures across the included reviews. Although findings were generally positive, variability in methodologies and reporting limits the ability to draw firm conclusions. Therefore, VR may be considered a potentially supportive approach for social skills training; however, further standardization of outcome measures is required before clinical recommendations can be made. Conclusion VR‐based interventions show promise for improving social skills in children with ASD; however, the current evidence remains limited and heterogeneous, primarily based on systematic reviews of varying methodological quality. Future research should prioritize long‐term follow‐up, real‐world generalization, and the development of standardized intervention protocols and outcome measures to strengthen the evidence base and support clinical translation.
During adolescence, the Internet gains importance as a means of social interaction, with young people exploring their emerging sexuality both offline and online. Therefore, cybergrooming victimization represents a prevalent online risk in this vulnerable stage of development. Disclosing such victimization and how confidants react to it may be crucial in mitigating its adverse consequences. However, research on disclosure following cybergrooming victimization and its relevance for victims’ well-being is pending. Therefore, the present preregistered study examined cross-sectional associations between cybergrooming victimization, disclosure, confidants’ reactions, and well-being. Participants were 400 victims (Mage=15.58 years, girls: 57.5%) from a total sample of 908 adolescents, providing self-report data on their victimization and disclosure experiences and emotions of sadness, anxiety, and anger as indicators of well-being. Descriptive analyses showed high disclosure rates (total: 86%, to peers: 73%, to adults: 55%), and predominantly positive evaluations of confidants’ reactions. Structural equation models revealed that victimization and confidants’ disbelief were negatively associated with well-being, whereas dual disclosure to peers and adults was positively associated with well-being. Finally, multigroup structural equation modeling showed that blaming by peers and adults moderated the association between victimization and well-being, with the association being weaker in the group of victims reporting no/the least blame. Overall, the findings underscore that victims should be supported in confiding in more than one group of persons, particularly by promoting disclosure to adults. Potential confidants should be encouraged to cultivate a general tendency toward belief and to avoid statements and actions that (even if unintentionally) suggest blame.
The rapid diffusion of the metaverse is reshaping consumer behavior worldwide, yet consumers' behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse remains theoretically fragmented across user groups and insufficiently understood in emerging markets. Prior research has relied heavily on homogeneous samples, particularly gamer-centered populations, providing limited comparative evidence on how the mechanisms of behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse differ between gamers and nongamers. As a result, it remains unclear whether traditional technology acceptance models (TAMs) adequately explain the adoption of immersive technology across distinct user segments. To address this gap, this study investigates the determinants of behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse in Brazil through a multigroup analysis comparing gamers and nongamers. The TAM was refined by incorporating trust, compatibility, social influence, and technology availability to capture the drivers of behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse among gamers (n=201) and nongamers (n=238). Survey data were analyzed using PLS-SEM to test the proposed relationships. The findings reveal heterogeneous pathways to adoption intention across user groups. Ease of use, compatibility, and trust emerged as significant drivers for both groups, whereas perceived usefulness influenced behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse only among nongamers. Conversely, social influence and technology availability had stronger effects on gamers, suggesting that social interactions and experiential dynamics play a central role for digitally immersed users. These results demonstrate that intention to adopt immersive technology cannot be fully explained by universal utilitarian mechanisms, as the TAM explanatory structure varies with users' levels of digital immersion and consumption-related interactions. The findings also indicate that the Brazilian emerging-market context amplifies differences in infrastructure, trust, and access to technology. From a managerial perspective, the results suggest that intuitive design and trust-building mechanisms constitute universal requirements, whereas communication strategies should emphasize usefulness and accessibility for nongamers and leverage community endorsement and immersive engagement for gamers. The study contributes to the literature by revealing the boundary conditions of TAM in immersive digital environments and advancing a more segment-sensitive understanding of behavioral intention to adopt the metaverse.
Measurement of personality traits through self‐assessment questionnaires is widely used because of its ease of implementation; however, the validity of such measurements is compromised by social desirability bias (SDB), in which respondents provide answers that portray themselves favorably. Although observation methods through dialogue simulation can mitigate SDB, their practical application is limited by high costs and implementation complexity. Observation‐based dialogue simulations may reduce reliance on direct self‐report, but their practical application is limited by high costs and implementation complexity. This paper proposes a personality measurement method through dialogue simulation with interactive agents powered by large language models (LLMs) to suppress faking responses caused by SDB while addressing cost and complexity challenges. This paper proposes a personality measurement method through dialogue simulation with interactive agents powered by LLMs and conducts an initial examination of whether its scores change under instructed faking, while addressing cost and complexity challenges. The proposed method configures dialogue scenarios based on target personality traits and corresponding psychological scales, then derives measurement scores by automatically analyzing dialogue logs obtained from respondents′ interactions with interactive agents. To examine the proposed method, we conducted one online study with two measurement conditions: a questionnaire condition and a dialogue simulation condition. Each measurement condition included an honest instruction condition and a faking instruction condition. In the questionnaire condition, personality scores shifted in socially desirable directions under the faking instruction. In the dialogue simulation condition, no statistically significant differences were found between the two instruction conditions, and equivalence was supported for openness and extraversion. However, equivalence was not established for the other Big Five factors, and the present design did not directly examine convergent validity between questionnaire‐based and dialogue‐based scores. These findings provide preliminary evidence that dialogue simulation with interactive agents may reduce the influence of instructed faking in some cases, although further validation with larger samples and within‐participant comparisons is needed.
Aim This study is aimed at evaluating problematic smartphone use among health science university students and examining its association with sociodemographic, academic, and smartphone‐use‐related factors. Design This is a cross‐sectional analytical study. Methods Nursing, physiotherapy, and medicine students enrolled at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain) were recruited through stratified nonprobabilistic sampling. Problematic smartphone use was assessed using the Spanish version of the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI‐SV), analyzed as a continuous score using the established ≥ 44‐point cutoff. Nonparametric tests were applied, and effect sizes were calculated with Jamovi (Version 2.4.12). The study was approved by the research ethics committee. Results A total of 262 responses were obtained (mean age 22.7 ± 6.3 years; 74.4% women). The mean SPAI‐SV score was 52.30 ± 14.60 (95% CI: 50.52–54.07), and 68.3% of participants scored ≥ 44. Tolerance and compulsive behavior showed the highest standardized scores. Higher SPAI‐SV scores were associated with younger age, earlier smartphone acquisition, longer recreational use, and predominant social media use. Physiotherapy students and first‐year students showed higher scores, although subgroup findings should be interpreted cautiously. Conclusion Problematic smartphone use was frequent in this sample and was associated with several demographic and smartphone‐use characteristics, supporting the relevance of targeted preventive and digital education strategies. Impact These findings identify problematic smartphone use as a relevant digital‐health issue among health sciences students and support strategies promoting healthier technology use.
