Validation of a French Fear of Missing Out Scale.

Abstract

This study aimed to translate and assess the psychometric properties of a French Fear of Missing Out scale (PPC). The Fear of missing out is defined as a "pervasive apprehension that others might be having rewarding experiences from which one is absent; it is characterized by the desire to remain continually connected to what others are doing". One hundred and thirty-eight participants completed the PPC, a French version of the Internet Addiction Test - Social Media (IAT-RS), a French Smartphone Addiction Scale - Short Version (SAS-SV) and some subscales of the French Revised Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R) to test the validity of the scale. A principal components analysis revealed an 8-item PPC with a single factor and good internal validity. Correlations with the SAS-SV and the IAT-RS revealed moderate positive correlations confirming the convergent validity of the scale and supporting the use of the scale for further research findings related to the SCL-90-R subscales. Additional analyses allowed us to note that PPC fully mediated the relationship between anxiety and smartphone addiction, as well as between depression and smartphone addiction. It was also revealed that PPC partially mediated the relationship between anxiety and social media addiction and depression and social media addiction. The PPC has good psychometric qualities and opens up the possibility of assessing the fear of missing out in French populations and testing its relationships with various psychological disorders such as addictive behaviors.