Online Social Anxiety and Internet Addiction Among Taiwanese Adolescents: Social Comparison as a Moderating Mechanism

Author Information

FuAn Shieh, National Chengchi University, Taiwan
Yu-Chia Huang, National Chengchi University, Taiwan

Abstract

This study explores the relationships among Fear of Missing Out (FoMO), online social comparison, and Internet addiction among Taiwanese adolescents, and further examines whether online social comparison moderates the effect of FoMO on Internet addiction. Data were drawn from the 2023 release of the TASAL in I Generation dataset from Academia Sinica, comprising 9,009 seventh-grade students. Measures of FoMO, online social comparison, and Internet addiction demonstrated acceptable reliability and construct validity. Correlation analyses indicated significant positive associations among the three variables. In the main-effects model, both FoMO and online social comparison significantly predicted Internet addiction, accounting for 27.5% of the variance. Using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (v4.2, Model 1), the interaction term between FoMO and online social comparison was also significant, producing a small yet meaningful increase in explained variance. This suggests that online social comparison moderates the relationship between FoMO and Internet addiction, such that adolescents with high levels of both FoMO and comparison tendencies exhibit an elevated risk of problematic Internet use. These findings highlight FoMO and online social comparison as important psychological factors underlying adolescent Internet addiction and provide implications for promoting healthier digital engagement.

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