As conversational AI becomes more present in young people’s lives, researchers and practitioners need reliable tools to distinguish healthy use from social–emotional overreliance. In this project, we are developing and validating a developmentally appropriate survey measure for children and adolescents that assesses patterns such as emotional reliance, perceived closeness, boundary confusion, and difficulty disengaging from AI interactions. Using best practices in psychological measurement, we generate age-appropriate items, test comprehension, and evaluate reliability and validity across diverse youth samples. The resulting tool will support research, program evaluation, and safety-by-design efforts by providing a standardized way to monitor potential risks and identify protective factors in youth–AI relationships.

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