Where is the Party Tonight? The Impact of Fear of Missing Out on Peer Norms and Alcohol Expectancies and Consumption among College Students A Student Paper.

Background. Little is known about how the excessive drinking culture entrenched in college social life influences the fear of missing out (FOMO) on the binge drinking experience among college students and how such fear plays in the mechanisms linking various risk factors with binge drinking intentions. Objectives. The main objectives of this study were to 1) develop and validate a self-report measure of alcohol-related FOMO, and 2) assess the role of alcohol-related FOMO in increasing binge drinking intentions through mediating the effect of alcohol expectancies and enhancing susceptibility to peer norms. Method. A college student sample (N = 490; 66.3% female) completed a one-shot survey. Selfreport data was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and structural equation modeling along with mediation and moderation analyses. Results. Factor analyses supported an 18-item multidimensional scale tapping the alcoholrelated FOMO (ALFOMO). The scale demonstrated good internal consistency, satisfied the validity requirements and was free of gender bias. Additionally, ALFOMO was a significant focal predictor of binge drinking intentions. It significantly mediated the effect of alcohol positive expectancies and mediated and moderated the positive effect of peer descriptive norms. Conclusions. This paper presents the development and initial validation of the alcohol-related FOMO scale. The present study also provides the first theoretical and empirical investigation of the alcohol-related FOMO in relation to alcohol expectancies, peer norms, and binge drinking intentions. Results confirm that the ALFOMO scale is a promising measure and provide evidence for its indispensability in future research and interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]