Relationships Between Depression, Stress, Fear of Missing out, and Compulsive Social Media Use in Covid-19 Process

The novel Coronavirus (Covid-19), emerging in Wuhan, China, in December 2019, has rapidly spread to many parts of the world, causing thousands of people to die. In addition to its physical and biological effects, the virus has some psychological effects. Psychological disorders, such as depression, stress, and anxiety are some of these effects. In this process, people have started to use social media platforms to meet their information and social support needs more often. The current study aimed to analyze the mediator role of fear of missing out (FoMO) in the relationship between people's depression and stress level with compulsive social media use (CSMU) in Covid-19 process through a structural equation model (SEM). To this end, an online survey was conducted between 14-20 June 2020 in Turkey (N = 871, 60.7 % women, Mage = 28.70, SD = 9.99) and convenience sampling method used. The findings showed that while depression positively correlates with CSMU, there was no relationship between stress and CSMU. In addition, there was a positive relationship between depression and stress with FoMO, FoMO with CSMU, as well. Moreover, FoMO had a mediation role in the relationship between depression and stress with CSMU. The research’s findings are expected to contribute to the effective communication of the official institutions that manage the crisis related to Covid-19 with the public through social media.