The Longitudinal Relationship Between Fear of Missing Out and Adolescent Problematic Mobile Phone Use: The Role of Desire and Craving

Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) is one of the risk factors for problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) among adolescents. However, previous findings have been inconsistent and have not comprehensively considered the roles of cognition and emotion. Grounded in the I-PACE model, this study examines the role of desire thinking and craving in the predictive relationship between FoMO and PMPU among adolescents through path analysis, while employing network analysis to identify the most central and influential nodes within this mechanism. This study focused on adolescents and employed the FoMO scale, the Desire Thinking Questionnaire, the Psychological Craving Assessment Scale, and the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale to conduct a four-wave longitudinal survey of 509 adolescents. The results of the path model showed that desire thinking and craving played a role of chain mediation in this relationship. Network analysis revealed that the "irresistible longing" node was the strongest bridge node of the network. Among the associations between nodes of different communities, the strongest association was between the "difficulty stopping" node in Desire Thinking and the "irresistible longing" node in Craving, followed by the "stress relief" node in Craving and the "mood modification" node in PMPU. These findings provide empirical evidence for the I-PACE model and underscore the critical roles of desire thinking and craving. They also offer valuable insights for future research and clinical interventions targeting PMPU among adolescents.