The need to be seen: social approval and evaluative fears as psychological pathways to FOMO
Şaziye Yaman
Front. Psychol., 16 June 2026
Sec. Personality and Social Psychology
Abstract
Introduction:
Fear of missing out (FOMO) has been increasingly linked to social-evaluative concerns and approval-seeking motivations, yet the psychological mechanisms underlying these associations remain insufficiently modeled. The present study examined the mediating role of need for social approval in the relationships between fear of negative evaluation (FNE), perceived social competence, and FOMO among emerging adults.
Methods:
Data were collected from 365 university students (aged 18–23) in Türkiye using a cross-sectional design. Two bootstrapped mediation models were tested.
Results:
In Model 1, need for social approval fully mediated the statistical association between FNE and FOMO, with no significant direct effect remaining. In Model 2, perceived social competence showed a positive direct association with FOMO alongside a small indirect effect in the opposite direction through reduced approval needs.
Discussion:
These findings suggest that FOMO among emerging adults is statistically accounted for largely by approval-based motivational processes rather than evaluative fears alone. Interventions targeting approval-seeking tendencies may be more effective than approaches focused solely on reducing digital exposure. Implications for social-cognitive conceptualizations of FOMO are discussed.
CITE
Akbay SE, Kurt AA, Bakir Aygar B and Yaman Ş (2026) The need to be seen: social approval and evaluative fears as psychological pathways to FOMO. Front. Psychol. 17:1840811. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1840811
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