Celebrity Worship, Narcissism, and Problematic Instagram Use: The Mediating Role of Difficulties in Emotion Regulation and Fear of Missing Out

Instagram's popularity as a social network platform has generated concerns about its underlying mechanisms and potential negative consequences. Through examining structural relationships, the present study sought to explore the relationship between narcissism, celebrity worship, fear of missing out (FoMO), difficulty in emotion regulation, and problematic Instagram use. The sample comprised 450 students (78.9% female) from six universities in Iran. The scales used in the study assessed problematic Instagram use, narcissism, celebrity worship, difficulties in emotion regulation, and FoMO. The results indicated that there was a positive association between narcissism, celebrity worship, and problematic Instagram use. Also, difficulties in emotion regulation and FoMO were partial mediators of the association between the predictor variables (i.e., narcissism and celebrity worship) and problematic Instagram use. The findings emphasize the need for additional research on difficulty in emotion regulation, FoMO, and other underlying mechanisms contributing to problematic Instagram use.