The new first listener: Daydreaming styles and self-compassion predict adolescent disclosure to AI, differently in ADHD

Key Findings

• — Participants were 2,115 adolescents with and without ADHD identification, sampled across the United States and Hong Kong
• — Young people with ADHD differed markedly from peers on both daydreaming styles and self-compassion, and the pathways from daydreaming style to AI disclosure diverged between the groups
• — Among youth with ADHD, higher self-compassion predicted reduced AI disclosure
• — In the general-population group, self-compassion amplified disclosure linked to positive-constructive daydreaming while constraining disclosure linked to guilty-dysphoric and poor-attentional-control daydreaming
• — The authors conclude that AI-based 'Step 0' disclosures should be interpreted within stepped-care models with attention to individual differences and neurodiversity

Methodology Notes

Cross-sectional online survey, N=2,115, United States and Hong Kong; structural equation modelling with multi-group analysis. ADHD status was by self-identification rather than clinical diagnosis, and the cross-sectional design supports association only. Verification route: onlinelibrary.wiley.com is CAPTCHA-blocked from this box, so the record was confirmed against the Crossref DOI metadata (title, British Journal of Clinical Psychology, journal-article, published-online 2026-08-17, authors Hui Yun Li and Ho Nam Cheung, CC BY) and the Europe PMC record MED:42606151, which carries the full structured abstract. The full text has NOT been read. An open preprint of the same work exists on PsyArXiv (10.31234/osf.io/q73h6_v1, February 2026). A companion PsyArXiv paper from the same group and apparently the same US/Hong Kong cohort (N=2,023, 'Turn to chatbots for sharing feelings or seeking solutions?', v2 2026-08-11) reports that preference for emotional self-disclosure to chatbots tracked adaptive coping in Hong Kong adolescents but maladaptive coping and negative behaviours including bullying in US adolescents, while instrumental help-seeking was benign in both; it is recorded here as an additional source rather than a separate row.

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