ItemArticle

Fear of Missing Out and Aggression: Role of Fatigue, Daytime Sleepiness and Self-regulationA Serial Mediation Model

Title
Fear of Missing Out and Aggression: Role of Fatigue, Daytime Sleepiness and Self-regulationA Serial Mediation Model
Creator
Ghosal, Akashdeep; Chukkali, Surekha; Mukherjee, Oindrila; Sahni, Aishwin
Description
Background: Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a recent psychological phenomenon and has been constantly linked with aggression, disturbed sleeping habits and deficits in self-regulatory skills. It is important to understand the mechanism through which FOMO influences sleepiness, self-regulation and aggression. Purpose: The objective of the study was to investigate the relationship between FOMO and aggression in young adults and examine the mediating roles of fatigue, daytime sleepiness and self-regulation in the relationship between FOMO and aggression. Method: A cross-sectional correlational research design was employed to collect data from 455 young adults aged 1824 years (M = 20.71; SD = 1.61). Data were collected through standardised self-report measures. The obtained data were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences v23, and sequential mediation analysis using AMOS v22. Results: Findings indicated significant relationships between FOMO and the outcome variables like aggression, daytime sleepiness and self-regulation. However, no significant relationship was found between FOMO and fatigue; therefore, fatigue was not considered for further analysis. Sequential mediation analysis revealed that elevated levels of FOMO predicted lower daytime sleepiness (? = 0.26, p < .001), which in turn predicted low self-regulation (? = 0.39, p < .001) and consequently led to elevated levels of aggression (? = 0.26, p < .001). The indirect route (FOMO ? sleepiness ? self-regulation ? aggression) was statistically significant with excellent model fit (?2(2) = 3.86, RMSEA = 0.02, CFI = 0.99, SRMR = 0.01). Conclusion: The study indicates a full sequential mediation: greater FOMO levels reduce daytime sleepiness, possibly due to heightened arousal, which in turn leads to poor self-regulatory skills and increased aggression. It can be concluded that psychological interventions to improve self-regulation can help manage aggression in people with high levels of FOMO. The Author(s) 2026. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
Source
Annals of Neurosciences;
Date
01-01-2026
Publisher
SAGE Publications Inc.
Subject
aggression; Fear of missing out; mediation; self-regulation; sleep
Coverage
Ghosal A., School of Psychological Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR Campus, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, India; Chukkali S., School of Psychological Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Karnataka, Bengaluru, India; Mukherjee O., School of Psychological Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR Campus, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, India; Sahni A., School of Psychological Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Delhi NCR Campus, Uttar Pradesh, Ghaziabad, India
Rights
All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Relation
ISSN: 9727531;
Format
online
Language
English
Type
Article

Citation

Ghosal, Akashdeep; Chukkali, Surekha; Mukherjee, Oindrila; Sahni, Aishwin, “Fear of Missing Out and Aggression: Role of Fatigue, Daytime Sleepiness and Self-regulationA Serial Mediation Model,” CHRIST (Deemed To Be University) Institutional Repository, accessed June 18, 2026, https://archives.christuniversity.in/items/show/23142.

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