PSYCHOMETRIC VALIDATION OF TRAIT-STATE FEAR OF MISSING OUT SCALE IN INDIAN YOUTH

Abstract

Interest in fear of missing out (FoMO) and its linkage with mental health and social media has spiked in recent years. India has the world’s second highest number of social media users. There has also been some studies examining problematic social media use, but there are few Indian studies regarding FoMO. This may be probably due to the lack of standardized measurement tools for assessing FoMO in India. Therefore, the objective of present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of Trait-State Fear of Missing Out Scale (T-SFoMOS) in Indian youth. A total of 517 young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) completed a survey consisting of the T-SFoMOS. The collected data was subjected to exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, in addition to various other statistical tests. The study results indicate that the two factor model of T-SFoMOS shows good psychometric properties. The present study provides empirical evidence that the T-SFoMOS is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring FoMO in Indian youth. The study concludes with several theoretical and practical implications for research in FoMO