The Effect Of Fear Of Missing Out On Online Helping Behavior: The Role Of Neuroticism And Perceived Stress

With the popularity of Internet,people communicate more in the cyberspace,and begin to use Wechat,Weibo and other network platforms to release help information or give help.College students’ behavior always affects the network environment.Some researches confirm that the majority of modern young people experience the fear of missing out(FoMO),which is an important predictor of prosocial behavior.There is a strong correlation between online helping behavior and prosocial behavior,therefore the fear of missing out is likely to predict online helping behavior.There are two types of FoMO: trait-FoMO and state-FoMO.Different types of FoMO may have different effects on people’s behavior,which can be also affected by cognitive factors.People with high perceived stress level have lower frequency of helping behaviors.Therefore,perceived stress may be a mediating variable between FoMO and online helping behaviors.In addition,neuroticism may regulate the relationship between FoMO and online helping behaviors,and the relationship between FoMO and perceived stress.In this study,questionnaire and experimental methods are used to investigate the influence of college students’(trait/state)fear of missing out on online helping behavior,and to explore the effect of perceived stress and neuroticism.In study 1,the influence of trait-FoMO on online helping behavior and the mechanism of perceived stress and neuroticism were discussed,401 college students in Hubei Province were measured by the Trait-State Fear of Missing Out scale,Perceived Stress Scale,The scale of college students’ internet altruistic behavior and Big Five Inventory.The results are as follows:(1)There are significant differences in some demographic variables of college students’ trait-FoMO,perceived stress,neuroticism and online helping behavior.(2)Trait-FoMO is positively correlated with perceived stress,neuroticism and online helping behavior;Perceived stress is positively correlated with neuroticism and negatively correlated with online helping behavior.Neuroticism is negatively correlated with online helping behavior.(3)Perceived stress plays a completely mediating role in the influence of trait-FoMO on online helping behavior.(4)Neuroticism can regulate the effect of trait-FoMO on online helping behavior,and can also regulate the effect of trait-FoMO on perceived stress.In study 2,the influence of state-FoMO on online helping behavior and the mechanism of perceived stress and neuroticism were discussed,188 college students in Hubei Province were subjects.Two self-designed situational materials were used to activate state-FoMO and measure online helping behavior.Perceived Stress Scale and Big Five Inventory were used to measure perceived stress and neuroticism.The results are as follows:(1)Perceived stress plays a completely mediating role in the influence of state-FoMO on online helping behavior.(2)Neuroticism can regulate the effect of state-FoMO on perceived stress.Combining the results of study 1 and study 2,we find that college students’ FoMO significantly predicts online helping behavior,and perceived stress completely mediates the relationship between FoMO and online helping behavior.Neuroticism can regulate the influence of FoMO on online helping behavior,and also can regulate the influence of FoMO on perceived stress.