- FOMO – the fear of missing out – may be related to short-term mating interests
- We compete more actively for sexual opportunities when we feel FOMO
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We all felt it. The nagging fear that your friends are having more fun than you are elsewhere, often sparked by a seemingly exciting social media post.
The phenomenon of the so-called ‘fear of missing out’, or FOMO, has become known as a common experience among younger generations.
Now researchers have discovered the scientific reasons why we feel this.
In addition to our innate competitiveness, it has a lot to do with the human instinct to look for a potential sexual partner, according to a new study by Canadian scientists.
In other words, it’s a deep-seated sense of “what if” regarding romantic relationships. When we feel like we are missing out, we compete more actively for social and sexual opportunities.
Research has suggested that FOMO is due to short-term competitive behavior and mating interests. In women, it was also related to less social support
Study author Adam Davis, professor of social sciences at Canadore College, said: ‘FOMO could alert people to the threat of not participating in these important social activities, which could motivate them to seek out and fight for social and sexual opportunities.’
Researchers from Nipissing University in Canada enrolled 327 heterosexual American adults between the ages of 19 and 60 in the study.
In the study, published in the journal Current Research in the Behavioral Sciencesparticipants were given a 10-item scale to measure their baseline level of FOMO.
It included statements such as “I worry that others have more valuable experiences than I do” and “It bothers me when I miss an opportunity to meet friends.”
Participants rated the extent to which each statement applied to them on a scale of one to five, with five meaning extremely true.
Participants were then assessed on status seeking, gender competition, short-term mating efforts, and level of social support, with a questionnaire for each.
Status seeking included statements: “Being very successful is important to me. I hope people recognize my achievements.’
For intrasexual competition, they rated statements such as: “I can’t stand it when I meet another woman/man who is more attractive than me.”
Promiscuousness was measured using three related factors: behavior, attitude and desire.
Participants were also asked to indicate the number of sexual partners they had had outside of a committed relationship.
The scores for each factor were combined, with a higher score indicating higher promiscuity.
The researchers found that those who were more likely to have high levels of FOMO also scored higher on measures of sexual desire and attitudes toward seeking new partners.
Other factors, such as how much social support participants felt, were not as strongly related to FOMO/
Study author Adam Davis, professor of social sciences at Canadore College, said: “Among American adults, we found that higher levels of FOMO were associated with a greater desire to seek short-term sex partners.”