Measuring Youth Overreliance on AI: A Developmentally Appropriate Dependency Scale

“Overreliance” on AI is widely discussed but rarely measured well — especially for children and adolescents, whose needs differ from adults’. This project develops and validates a developmentally appropriate scale to capture youth dependency on AI.

Research question

What does healthy versus unhealthy reliance on AI look like across developmental stages, and how can we measure it in a way that is valid, age-appropriate, and useful to researchers and practitioners?

Approach

We define the construct, generate candidate items, and validate the scale with youth samples, examining how dependency relates to wellbeing, autonomy, and other developmental outcomes.

Why it matters

A reliable measure is the foundation for everything else — tracking risk, evaluating interventions, and informing guidance for families, schools, and developers about youth AI dependency.