Effects of psychiatric symptoms, age, and gender on fear of missing out (FoMO) and problematic smartphone use: A path analysis with clinical-based adolescent sample

BACKGROUND: Fear of missing out (FoMO) is a kind of anxiety that arises from FoMO on rewarding online social experiences that others might be having. Recent studies demonstrated that there is a strong relationship between FoMO and problematic smartphone use (PSU). In this study, we aimed to address the relationship between age, gender, psychiatric symptoms, PSU, and FoMO among a clinical-based adolescent sample. METHODS: In total, 197 adolescents (136 boys, 12–18 years) who applied to psychiatry clinics were recruited in the study. Path analysis with observed variables was used to investigate the relationships of PSU and FoMO with each other and with psychiatric symptoms (somatization, obsession–compulsion, interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, phobic anxiety, paranoid ideation, and psychoticism), age, and gender. RESULTS: Path analysis showed that age (B(1) = 2.35, P < 0.001), somatization (B(1) = 1.19, P < 0.001), hostility (B(1) = 0.92, P = 0.001), and paranoid ideation (B(1) = 0.93, P = 0.005) have significant positive effect on PSU, when interpersonal sensitivity has a significant negative effect (B(1) = –1.47, P < 0.001). For FoMO, male gender (B(0) = 0.35, P < 0.001), anxiety (B(1) = 1.37, P < 0.001), and PSU have positive effects, whereas age (B(1) = –1.60, P < 0.001), depression (B(1) = –0.58, P = 0.004), and hostility (B(1) = –0.49, P = 0.001) have a negative effect. CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrated that although PSU and FoMO are closely related to each other in previous studies, they have different associations with age, gender, and psychiatric symptoms among a clinical-based adolescent sample. The positive effects of PSU, anxiety on FoMO are predictable; however, the negative effect of age, hostility, and depression on FoMO was interesting. These relationships could be related to social exclusion-hostility and impulsivity-male gender/younger age associations in adolescence. In addition, we did not find a significant effect of FoMO on PSU, this could be related to the social and non-social use of smartphones, and should be reevaluated in clinical samples in the future.