Although virtual reality (VR) usage has become widespread in the last decade, its adoption has been hampered by experiences of user discomfort known as cybersickness. The present study, in line with the “2020 cybersickness R&D agenda”, sought to provide a broad examination of the cybersickness phenomenon, assessing its pervasiveness, latent trajectories, impacts on the VR experience, and predictor variables. The study was composed of 92 participants living in the Dominican Republic with ages ranging from 18 to 52 years ( M = 26.22), who experienced a 10-min VR immersion in two environments designed for psychotherapy. The results indicated that cybersickness was pervasive, with 65.2% of the participants experiencing it, and 23.9% severely. Additionally, the latent trajectories of cybersickness were positive and curvilinear, with large heterogeneity across individuals. Cybersickness also had a substantive negative impact on the user experience and the intentions to adopt the VR technology. Finally, motion sickness susceptibility, cognitive stress, and recent headaches uniquely predicted greater severity of cybersickness, while age was negatively related. These combined results highlight the critical role that cybersickness plays on the VR experience and underscore the importance of finding solutions to the problems, such as technological advancements or special usage protocols for the more susceptible individuals. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10055-022-00636-4.

Although virtual reality (VR) usage has steadily increased in the last decade, its adoption has been hampered by experiences of user discomfort known as cybersickness. The present study, in line with the 2020 cybersickness research agenda, sought to provide a broad examination of the cybersickness phenomenon, assessing its pervasiveness, latent trajectories, impacts on the VR experience, and predictor variables. The study was composed of 92 participants living in the Dominican Republic with ages ranging from 18 to 52 years (M=26.22), who experienced a 10-minute VR immersion in two environments designed for psychotherapy. The results indicated that cybersickness was pervasive, with 65.2% of the participants experiencing it, and 23.9% severely. Additionally, the latent trajectories of cybersickness were positive and curvilinear, with large heterogeneity across individuals. Cybersickness also had a substantive negative impact on the user experience and the intentions to adopt the VR technology. Finally, motion sickness susceptibility, cognitive stress, and recent headaches, uniquely predicted greater severity of cybersickness, while age was negatively related. These combined results highlight the critical role that cybersickness plays on the VR experience and underscore the importance of finding solutions to the problems, such as technological advancements or special usage protocols for the more susceptible individuals.

The Composite Abuse Scale (Revised) – Short Form (CASR-SF) was developed with the aim of providing a brief, reliable, and valid self-report measure that could adequately capture the complexity of intimate partner violence (IPV). Unlike many commonly used IPV instruments, it is a multidimensional measure that is appropriate for diverse groups and contexts and can be easily incorporated in population-based surveys or studies with multiple scales. Despite these benefits, however, there is limited evidence regarding the psychometric properties of the CASR-SF. Thus, the current study aimed to perform a broad validation study of a new Spanish-language version of the CASR-SF. A large community sample of adults residing in the Dominican Republic was recruited (n = 1,117; age = 18-74; 82.7% female). Overall, the content validity, dimensionality, factor structure, measurement invariance, criterion validity, and reliability assessments indicated that the Spanish-language CASR-SF was a valid and reliable measure of the four core dimensions of IPV: sexual abuse, physical abuse, psychological abuse, and stalking, the latter a novel finding of this study. The structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed several at-risk populations for IPV, including females, sexual minorities (lesbian/gay/bisexual), and those with lower economic and education levels. Additionally, psychological abuse emerged as the IPV dimension most consistently and uniquely related with negative mental health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, suicidal ideation, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The collective evidence of this study suggests that the CASR-SF is an excellent tool for the research of IPV victimization across cultures.

Romantic breakups are considered one of the most stressful events experienced by young adults. Although the Breakup Distress Scale (BDS) is one of the most widely used instruments to measure breakup distress, there is limited evidence regarding its psychometric properties. Thus, we sought to adapt and validate a Spanish version of the BDS. The sample consisted of 179 Dominican young adults (78% female, 87% heterosexual, and 94% currently single), between the ages of 18 and 30 who experienced at least one breakup in the last 5 years. Parallel analysis and confirmatory factor analysis provided support for a robust one-factor structure. Additionally, the BDS scores exhibited high internal consistency reliability and item-rest correlations. Moreover, structural equation modeling indicated that those who initiated the breakup experienced less breakup distress than non-initiators, congruent with the literature. These combined findings suggest that the Spanish version of the BDS has good psychometric and validity properties.

Although virtual reality (VR) usage has become widespread in the last decade, its adoption has been hampered by experiences of user discomfort known as cybersickness. The present study, in line with the “2020 cybersickness R&D agenda”, sought to provide a broad examination of the cybersickness phenomenon, assessing its pervasiveness, latent trajectories, impacts on the VR experience, and predictor variables. The study was composed of 92 participants living in the Dominican Republic with ages ranging from 18 to 52 years (M = 26.22), who experienced a 10-min VR immersion in two environments designed for psychotherapy. The results indicated that cybersickness was pervasive, with 65.2% of the participants experiencing it, and 23.9% severely. Additionally, the latent trajectories of cybersickness were positive and curvilinear, with large heterogeneity across individuals. Cybersickness also had a substantive negative impact on the user experience and the intentions to adopt the VR technology. Finally, motion sickness susceptibility, cognitive stress, and recent headaches uniquely predicted greater severity of cybersickness, while age was negatively related. These combined results highlight the critical role that cybersick- ness plays on the VR experience and underscore the importance of finding solutions to the problems, such as technological advancements or special usage protocols for the more susceptible individuals.