FoMO predicts alcohol use and harms over and above the big five personality traits among university students

BackgroundUniversity students are an at-risk group for alcohol use. Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), the feeling that others are having rewarding experiences that one is missing out on, may drive alcohol use and harm. We aimed to investigate whether FoMO could uniquely predict alcohol use over and above known predictors like the big five personality traits.MethodsWe recruited 392 university students and invited them to take part in a daily diary study where they reported their alcohol use daily over 13 days. Participants also completed a baseline survey and reported personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness), and alcohol-related consequences and completed a final follow-up survey where they reported FoMO.ResultsUsing a zero-inflated negative binomial mixed model, we found that those higher in FoMO consumed more alcohol on drinking days (IRR = 1.11) when controlling for personality traits. Similarly, we found that those higher in FoMO experienced more harms (IRR = 1.10), when controlling personality traits.ConclusionWe found that FoMO is a distinct construct and not just isomorphic with the big five personality traits. This suggests that reducing FoMO may be a key aim for alcohol interventions and should be considered when aiming to reduce university student alcohol use.