Parent–Adolescent Communication and Problematic Internet Use: The Mediating Role of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO)

With the growing attention paid to the role of Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) as a mediator, linking deficits in psychological needs to Problematic Internet Use (PIU), this study explored the role of FoMO in partially explaining the connection between parent–child communication and the child’s PIU. Data were gathered from 270 participants of whom 45.6% 13- to 15-year-old youth (middle school students), and 54.5% 15.5- to 18-year-old adolescents (high school students). Path analysis results have corroborated the main research hypothesis, according to which positive communication activities of parents, such as listening to their children, trying to understand how they feel and what they think, and creating a positive and supportive atmosphere for discussions, can reduce FoMO experiences among adolescents, which in turn might decrease their PIU. Limitations, conclusions, and directions for further research are discussed.

Findings of the current study (Alt & Boniel Nissim, 2018) reveal that positive communication activities of parents, such as listening to their children, trying to understand how they feel and what they think, and creating a positive and supportive atmosphere for discussions, would be negatively connected to FoMO experiences among adolescents, which in turn might be negatively associated with their PIU (Problematic internet use). Another result showed that only the mother–child communication factor was negatively connected to FoMO. With regard to the participant characteristics, FoMO and PIU variables were more associated with the younger age group of adolescents. The first empirical model showed that females tended more than males toward PIU; however, this link was found very low and was not indicated in the second model