FoMO, Facebook addiction and loneliness as determinants of online vulnerability among Peruvian university students

Abstract

Online vulnerability is defined as the potential exposure to experiences that harm one’s psychological and physical well-being because of participation in online activities. Such experience can cause a decrease in self-worth and lead to the appearance of emotional issues. The purpose of this study was to propose an explanatory model for online vulnerability among Peruvian university students. This study follows an explanatory design with observable variables. The participants 219 intentionally chosen Peruvian university students, most of them women (62.6%), whose ages ranged between 17 and 28 years old, all of whom are studying at a private university in Metropolitan Lima. It was identified that FoMO, Facebook addiction and loneliness have direct effects on online vulnerability, while age has indirect effects on this variable (R2 = .486 Δβ = 0.01). These findings corroborate the theoretical assumptions that hold that inappropriate behaviors linked to technology respond to inadequate satisfaction of the basic psychological needs of competence, autonomy and belonging.