The mediating effects of fear of missing out and depression on the relationship between social comparison tendencies and social media addiction tendencies among college students

Objectives The purpose of this study is to test the mediation model in which social comparison orientation influences SNS addiction tendency through fear of missing out and depression among college students. Methods The research participants consisted of 268 current students enrolled in domestic universities, and data were collected through an online questionnaire. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the collected data, and the bootstrapping method and Phantom Variables were employed to analyze the sequential mediation effects. Results All path coefficients were significant except for the direct path from social comparison orientation to depression and SNS addiction orientation. When examining the individual mediation effects, fear of missing out mediated the relationship between social comparison orientation and depression, and the mediation effect of depression on the relationship between fear of missing out and SNS addiction was also significant. Finally, the full mediation effect of fear of missing out and depression on the relationship between social comparison orientation and SNS addiction tendency was significant, meaning that the higher the social comparison orientation, the higher fear of missing out, and fear of missing out may lead to SNS addiction tendency by increasing depression. Conclusions The results of this study suggest that college students with high social comparison tendencies may be more prone to SNS addiction, and this process may be explained by emotional difficulties such as fear of missing out and depression. The implications for counseling practice are further discussed, suggesting that emotional interventions such as fear of missing out and depression may be necessary when clients complaining of SNS addiction tendencies have social comparison tendencies.