Validation of the French fear of missing out (FoMO) scale across the lifespan.

Abstract

Since its development, the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) scale has been widely used to measure addictive behaviour towards information and communication technologies. However, its French adaptation and associated psychometric properties have not been validated. This study aimed at addressing this gap in the literature and proposed a validated measure for French-speaking populations. Specifically, we investigated the factorial structure of the scale in French with a lifespan sample and test its age, sex, education, and time invariance. Data were derived from an online longitudinal study (2-waves, 2 months interval) with a lifespan sample (N = 543, age range18 to 98 years, M = 46.8). The results showed that the French adaptation had a different factorial structure than the original scale. Specifically, the selected model had excellent fit and identified three lower-order factors, based on 8 out of 10 original items, which were then loaded to one higher-order factor. Moreover, measurement invariance testing revealed that the scale can be used for mean level comparisons (scalar invariance) between men and women, high vs. low educated individuals and across measurement points, while caution is suggested when comparing young vs. older individuals (partial scalar invariance). Lastly, the findings supported convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. In conclusion, the French adaptation of the FoMO scale can be used in longitudinal studies and for mean comparisons across sexes, educational levels and time, while the factorial structure (three lower-order factors loading to one higher-order factor) can be used when modelling FoMO with structural equation methods.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-025-08669-z.