Development and Validation of a Measurement Toolkit for Emotional and Relational Engagement with AI in Emerging Adults

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in emerging adults’ academic, work, and social lives, interactions with AI are no longer limited to instrumental use but increasingly involve emotional disclosure and relational engagement. Despite growing scholarly interest in these phenomena, empirical research has been constrained by the lack of validated instruments that systematically capture the behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects related to human-AI emotional and relational engagement. To address this gap, this study developed and validated a three-scale measurement toolkit assessing emerging adults’ different aspects of emotional and relational engagement with AI using a regionally representative college student sample from 26 universities in Shanghai (N = 1406, Mage = 18.98, SD = 1.25, 59.7% females). The toolkit comprises a Multidimensional AI Use Scale capturing emerging adults’ instrumental to emotional use of AI (i.e., instrumental use, personal assistance, and personal disclosure); a Perceived Uniqueness of AI Interaction Scale assessing tendencies to attribute specific emotional and relational qualities to AI; and an AI Emotional Attachment Scale measuring affective bonds formed with AI through repeated interactions. Split-sample exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated clear factor structures, satisfactory reliability, and evidence of discriminant and criterion-related validity for all three scales. Together, these instruments provide a theoretically grounded and psychometrically sound framework for examining emotionally and relationally oriented AI engagement across behavioral usage, cognitive beliefs, and affective attachment. This toolkit offers new solutions for investigating the psychological and developmental implications of human-AI relationships in emerging adulthood.