Development, validation and standardization of the questionnaire “The degree and type of one’s maladaptive subordination in a virtual environment”

<p style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Context and relevance.</strong> In the context of the virtual environment, subordination can be maladaptive and manifest itself as a form of digital deviation. Currently, there is a paucity of diagnostic tools with which to study the level of maladaptive subordination that develops in the context of Internet interaction, and moreover, the types of such subordination. <br><strong>Objective</strong><strong>. </strong>Development, reliability testing, validation and standardization of the questionnaire, which allows to reveal the degree of and type of one's maladaptive subordination in conditions of virtual interpersonal interaction. <br><strong>Research design. </strong>An anonymous questionnaire was administered to respondents using Google Forms with the objective of identifying convergent validity, examining the internal consistency of all scales in the questionnaire, and conducting personal interviews with a panel of experts to test content validity. The study was conducted from December 2024 to February 2025. <strong>Participants.</strong> A total of 550 subjects were included in the study, comprising students and residents of universities in Saratov, Moscow, Krasnodar, Stavropol, and Grozny. The sample included 405 (74%) female and 145 (26%) male subjects. The average age of the respondents was 24 ± 5 years. <br><strong>Methods (tools). </strong>General Trust Scale of T. Yamagishi in the adaptation of E.A. Vlasenko, the Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality in modification of L.N. Sobchik, the modified Scale of Social Trust in adaptation of I.Y. Leonova, I.N. Leonov. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha coefficient, correlation analysis (Spearman) were used to process and analyze the data. Data analysis was performed using the R programming language (v.4.3.3) in the RStudio environment. <br><strong>Results. </strong>The three-factor structure of the questionnaire <em>GFI </em>= 0,93, <em>AGFI</em> = 0,90, <em>TLI</em> = 0,96, <em>CFI</em> = 0,96, <em>SRMR</em> = 0,04, <em>RMSEA</em> = 0,04 was confirmed. The content and convergent validity of the questionnaire was proved. Good (α Kronbach 0,77-0,89) consistency across the three scales and acceptable consistency for the integrative scale of the questionnaire (α Kronbach = 0,68) were found. <br><strong>Conclusions.</strong> Exploratory factor analysis identified a 3-factor structure of the questionnaire, validated through confirmatory factor analysis. This analysis also demonstrated the questionnaire's gender invariance. Standardisation of the questionnaire's rating scales was undertaken. The questionnaire is a pioneering tool for diagnosing one's maladaptive subordination in virtual environments, its degree and type.</p>