Developing the Fear of Missing Out (Fomo) Scale for University Students: the Validity and Reliability Study

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool to determine the level of fear of missing out (FoMO) for university students. There are many studies aiming to determine the FoMO levels of adolescents, youth and university students. However, a new scale was needed since the scales used in these studies were the adapted versions, and involved cultural differences that may lead to prejudice. 21-item pool was generated for the draft scale and applied to 343 university students. The exploratory factor analysis and parallel analysis carried out on the data, and a two-dimensional structure was formed (KMO= 0.89, Bartlett sphericity test= 0.00< 0.05). The variance explained by two factors together is 50.86%. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted on a new data composed of 283 university students. The results showed that FoMO Scale is valid and reliable at a good level ( = 2.12, CFI= 0.95, RMSEA= 0.06, Cronbach‘s alpha= 0.88). There was a moderate correlation between the factors (r= 0.48). The FoMO Scale; consists of 17 items in total, of which private factor has 9 items and the social factor has 8 items. The scale is basically worthwhile and unique in that it is theoretically inclusive and includes different concepts (regret of decision making etc.) and emotions (feel lost, feel deeply lonely, feel an inner guilt, eat one's heart out, and feel embarrassed) that define FoMO. The scale could be used by researchers as an efficient instrument to measure the FoMO levels of youth, as well as enabling the individuals to recognize the FoMO and go into action. Additionally, validity and reliability studies could be carried out by applying the scale at different education levels. © 2022, Duzce University, Faculty of Education. All rights reserved.