Longitudinal Associations Among Academic Burnout, Fear of Missing Out, and Smartphone Use Addiction in Chinese University Students: A Two-Wave Study

Smartphone use addiction and academic burnout represent prevalent phenomena, and existing research indicates a strong positive association between them. However, the longitudinal associations and potential explanatory mechanisms underlying this association remain insufficiently examined. This research explored the reciprocal influences between academic burnout and smartphone use addiction across time, while also examining whether fear of missing out (FoMO) functions as a central mediating mechanism. This research utilized a two-wave longitudinal design, with data collected from participants at two time points separated by a six-month interval. The sample consisted of 893 students from a university in South China. Measures included the Adolescent Student Burnout Inventory, the Fear of Missing Out Scale, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Scale. This research employed an analytical method of cross-lagged panel models with mediating effects. The results demonstrated that smartphone use addiction and academic burnout positively predicted each other over time. Furthermore, FoMO significantly mediated these bidirectional longitudinal associations. These results provide preliminary evidence for bidirectional temporal associations between academic burnout and smartphone use addiction and identify FoMO as one potential mechanism linking the two phenomena over time. These findings offer practical insights for developing targeted intervention strategies to address these interrelated issues among university students.