The relationship between social appearance anxiety, fear of missing out on social media developments, and social media addiction in adolescents.

AIM: To examine the associations between social appearance anxiety (SAA), fear of missing out (FoMO), and social media addiction (SMA) in adolescents, and investigate whether FoMO mediated the association between SAA and SMA. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study collected data using the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale for Adolescents, the Fear of Missing Out Scale, and the Social Media Disorder Scale. Pearson correlation analysis was used to examine associations between the study variables. Hierarchical multiple linear regression identified factors associated with SMA. The indirect association through FoMO was evaluated using path analysis with 5000 bootstrap samples and 95% confidence intervals. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 646 adolescents aged 13-18 years participated. SAA and FoMO were positively correlated with SMA (r = 0.360 and r = 0.524, respectively), and SAA was positively correlated with FoMO (r = 0.416). Path analysis showed a significant indirect association between SAA and SMA through FoMO. The direct association remained significant after including FoMO, indicating partial statistical mediation. CONCLUSION: Higher levels of SAA and FoMO were associated with greater SMA among adolescents. FoMO statistically explained part of the association between SAA and SMA. Because of the cross-sectional design, the findings indicate statistical associations rather than temporal or causal relationships. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: These findings may inform school- and family-based interventions promoting healthy social media use and addressing SAA and FoMO. Pediatric and school nurses may use these findings to develop awareness programs for adolescents and their parents.