Exploring the Relationship between Attachment Styles, Personality Traits and Fear of Missing Out

In the early years of life, attachment is the most dominant aspect of one’s psyche which plays a major role in the development of personality of an individual later in life which in turn influences how different individuals engage in various social interactions with others. In present times, when the world has come closer, a desire to be acknowledged and validated has become crucial to young adults to define themselves which has led to various psychological problems in them. Fear of missing out has emerged as one of the reasons for distress for many. The present study aims to explore the dynamic relationship between attachment styles (closed, dependent and anxious), Big Five personality traits and fear of missing out as its variables. Based on a quantitative research design, a sample of 281 participants between the age group of 18-25 are chosen and three standardised scales; the Revised Adult Attachment Scale (RAAS), Neuroticism Extraversion Openness Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and Fear of Missing Out scale are administered through an online questionnaire. Pearson Product Moment correlation method is used for data analysis and additionally the stepwise regression is also employed. Results suggest that extraversion and agreeableness share a significant positive relationship with closed and dependent attachment style. In addition, neuroticism is significantly negative with closed and dependent attachment. Findings also suggests that conscientiousness, extraversion and agreeableness are negatively correlated with anxious attachment style. Additionally, neuroticism is positively significant with anxious attachment. Moreover, agreeableness and conscientiousness are found to have a significant negative correlation with fear of missing out, whereas, neuroticism is significantly positive. In addition, fear of missing out is found to be positively related with anxious attachment style. Furthermore, the step-wise multiple regression indicates that agreeableness is the most dominant trait in dependent attachment style, extraversion being the highest predictor of closed attachment style and neuroticism being the most dominant trait in anxious attachment style. Additionally, neuroticism and anxious attachment style make the highest contribution to fear of missing out.