| Today,about 4.6 billion people use Internet all over the world and there are 847 million Chinese mobile phone netizens.As technology has been integrated in every aspect of life and in parallel with this,social media use have rapidly become wide spread in recent years.In daily life,people are always in a state of anxiety for worrying about missing or losing something,which becomes more and more serious with the rapid popularization and popularity of social networks.This phenomenon is called “Fear of Missing Out(Fo MO)” by related researchers,defined as a pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent,Fo MO is characterized by the desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing.Previous studies have shown that FoMO has been associated with social networking site addiction,the amount of stress experienced when using social networking sites,use of mobile phones while driving/learning,decreased self-esteem,college maladjustment,poor sleep,and a range of other negative outcomes.At present,Questionnaire survey is the only way to measure Fo MO,the Fear of Missing Out scale(Fo MOs)compiled by Przybylski et al.in 2013 and its revised version are mainly used.Although the commonly used Fo MOs has good reliability,its factor structure is not stable,and the development and the reliability and validity test of the Fo MOs are mostly based on the Western cultural background.In addition,earlier studies did not test gender equivalence of the measure.Compared with western countries,China is a collectivist society,which values the importance of social activities more highly.Therefore,a Fo MOs for Chinese cultural background is needed,which is very essential for the future study of Fo MO in China.Current paper consists of three studies,analyzing the factor structure and the construct validity of the Fo MOs in samples of Chinese women and men,and assessing its reliability and validity by longitudinal and experimental research to adapt a Fo MOs for Chinese cultural background,so as to provide a reliable measurement tool for the related research in the future.Study 1(EFA: N = 600;CFA: N = 500)explored the factor structure and the construct validity of the Fo MOs.In this study,Exploratory Factor Analysis(EFA),Confirmatory Factor Analysis(CFA),Convergent and Discriminant validity were used to test the factor structure of the FoMOs within samples of women and men.The results showed that the 6-item Brief Fear of Missing Out scale(BFo MOs)has stable factor structure,good internal consistency reliability and construct validity in Chinese women and men samples,including two significantly related factors: fear and general.Study 2(T1: N = 1851;T2: N = 1158)assessed the predictive validity of the BFo MOs by longitudinal survey.In this study,2 × 2 multivariate repeated measure covariance analysis(MANCOVA)was used to evaluate the effects of gender and study phase(T1 vs.T2)on depression,anxiety,stress,compulsive internet use,fear and general.Then,the predictive validity of the BFo MOs was analyzed by multivariate regression models within samples of women and men.The results showed that the 6-item 2-component BFo MOs has good internal consistency reliability and predictive validity in Chinese women and men samples.Women scored higher than men did on overall compulsive internet use and fear subscale scores;scores on all T2 measures(depression,anxiety,stress,compulsive internet use,fear,general)were greater than those at T1;women reported relatively sharper T1-to-T2 increases in depression,anxiety,stress,compulsive internet use and general between assessments compared with men.Among women and men samples,high fear at T1 and/or T2 were prone to increased depression,anxiety and stress at T2,and failed to explain compulsive internet use;general did not predict later exacerbations in depression,anxiety,stress and compulsive internet use;increased fear and / or general between T1 and T2 were concomitants to follow-up elevations in compulsive internet use.For women,increased general between T1 and T2 was concomitant to follow-up elevations in depression,anxiety and stress.For men,increased general between T1 and T2 not explaining follow-up elevations in depression,anxiety and stress.Study 3(N = 120)evaluated the predictive validity of the BFo MOs by ostracism experiment.This study practiced the classic paradigm of social exclusion experiment,Cyberball,to carry out exclusion manipulation by involving the participants in the virtual three person Cyberball game,which is conducted by questionnaire survey,experiment and questionnaire survey.2(higher FoMO vs.lower Fo MO)× 2(included vs.ostracized)between-subjects design was used in the experiment,60 with higher Fo MO scores and 60 with lower Fo MO scores were randomly assigned to one of two Cyberball conditions: Included group vs.Ostracized group.Dependent variables were need satisfaction(belonging,self-esteem,meaningful existence,control)and mood.ANOVAs were used to analyze the effect of experimental grouping,experimental manipulation and independent variables on dependent variables.The results showed that the 6-item 2-component BFo MOs has good internal consistency reliability,test-retest reliability and predictive validity in Chinese women and men samples.Participants reported higher perception of being ignored,perception of being excluded scores and less self-esteem,meaningful existence,control and positive mood in the higher Fo MO group than in the lower Fo MO group;Ostracized participants felt more ignored and excluded than included participants and reported receiving the ball on fewer trials and less belonging,self-esteem,meaningful existence,control and positive mood.In conclusion,the revised 6-item 2-component BFo MOs has stable factor structure,good internal consistency reliability,test-retest reliability,construct validity and predictive validity in Chinese women and men samples and it's a reliable tool to measure FoMO. |
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