Predicting Changes in Helicopter Parenting, Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO), and Social Anxiety in College Students

Abstract

College life involves navigating different educational and career development options, as well as social relationships. The pressure to “fit in” can be stressful and involve the fear of missing out (FOMO) on fun, social events. The college environment is especially challenging for those who experience social anxiety – the fear of being rejected and humiliated in social encounters. One factor that could be related to social difficulties in college students is helicopter parenting – a distinct parenting style characterized by parental over-involvement and over-control, which has been shown to be harmful to college students’ development. Given that college students experience helicopter parenting, FOMO, and social anxiety simultaneously, we examined how these experiences were associated with one another, as well as their stability and change across time. We expected helicopter parenting to be related to college students’ FOMO and social anxiety. Using a 12-week longitudinal design with a sample of 282 college students, we employed an interrelated latent growth curve to determine the associations between changes in helicopter parenting, FOMO, and social anxiety. The results showed that the levels of FOMO decreased over time, and a slower decrease in helicopter parenting was associated with a slower decrease in FOMO. In addition, decreases in social anxiety were associated with decreases in helicopter parenting and FOMO. Implications for practice are discussed.