The Relationships Among Passive Social Networking Sites Use,Fear Of Missing Out And Risk-taking Behavior In High School Students And Its Intervention Research

Risk-taking behavior is one of the most common problem-behaviors among adolescents,and it also has a high incidence among Chinese adolescents.Risk-taking behavior has many negative effects on adolescents’ physical and mental health.It not only affects the normal aspects of adolescents’psychological development such as cognition,emotion and sociality,but also influences their physical health and even life safety.Based on the high prevalence of risk-taking behavior among adolescents and its negative effects on adolescents’ development,it is necessary to explore and analyze the factors affecting adolescents’ risk-taking behavior,in order to provide some reference and guidance for the development of interventions or policies on adolescents’ risk-taking behavior.Previous studies have shown that the influencing factors of adolescent risk-taking behavior involve many aspects,including individual factors(such as sociodemographic factors,personality characteristics,and emotional experience),as well as environmental factors(such as family and peer factors).Among these factors,social networking sites(SNSs)use is one frequent activity in adolescents’ daily life,and its role in risk-taking behavior cannot be ignored.Therefore,this study will focus on the relationship between adolescents’ passive SNSs use and risk-taking behavior.On this basis,this study will further examine the mechanism of this relation,that is,to explore the mediating role of fear of missing out(FoMO)in the relationship between passive SNSs use and risk-taking behavior.In addition,by drawing on previous intervention studies on adolescents’risk-taking behavior,this study will develop the group counseling intervention that target on adolescents’ FoMO,and further test its effectiveness among middle school students.This study will explore the above issues through two sub-studies.Study 1 will analyze the impact of passive SNSs use on adolescents’ risk-taking behavior and examine the mediating role of FoMO in this relationship.Study 2 will focus on the FoMO-based group counseling intervention for adolescent risk-taking behavior,and test its effectiveness.Study 1 selected 465 senior high school students from Fuzhou City,Fujian Province,while Study 2 selected 30 students with the highest scores on risk-taking behavior for intervention research.The questionnaire method was used to measure passive SNSs use,FoMO and risk-taking behavior among senior high school students.All data was processed and analyzed by using SPSS 23.0.The results showed that:(1)the intensity of passive SNSs use had a significant and positive correlation with risk-taking behavior in senior high school students;FoMO had a significant and positive correlation with passive SNSs use as well as risk-taking behavior.(2)FoMO played a partial mediating role in the relationship between passive SNSs use and risk-taking behavior in senior high school students.That is,passive SNSs use not only can directly affect students’ risk-taking behavior,but also can indirectly affect students’ risk-taking behavior through FoMO.(3)Through eight-week intervention,the scores on students’ risk-taking behavior and FoMO after one week and two months of intervention were significantly lower than the scores before the intervention.This shows that FoMO-based group counseling intervention program can effectively reduce the risk-taking behavior in senior high school students.Finally,the theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed,and the limitations and shortcomings that may exist in this study are pointed out.