Dark Triad Personality and Phubbing: The Mediator Role of Fomo

Abstract

Phubbing among undergraduate has become an area of increasing research interest in recent years. In recent years, studies on phubbing have increased. However, no empirical study has deal with the mediating effect of fear of missing out (FoMO) on the relationship between dark triad and phubbing. The dark triad refers to three personality traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. Machiavellianism is characterized by prioritizing one’s own wishes and desires. Psychopathy, is a personality trait where lack of emotion and self-control is seen. Narcissism is characterized by low empathy and egocentrism. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine whether FoMO mediator between dark triad and phubbing among undergraduates. For this purpose, structural equation modeling and bootstrapping method was used. Mediation analyses were performed using AMOS 22.00. The present study comprised 506 undergraduate (%70.7 female; %29.3 male). The age of the participants ranged between 18 and 29 (x = 22.41).The measures used included the General Scale of Phubbing, Fear of Missing Out Scale, and Dirty Dozen Scale. The results showed that FoMO mediated the relationship between dark triad and phubbing. The results of bootstrapping procedure indicated that the indirect effect of FoMO on the relationship between dark triad and phubbing was significant. In conclusion, the study suggests that FoMO is a meaningful mediator in the relationship between dark triad and phubbing. Research results are discussed in the light of the related literature and suggestions are presented for future researchers.