Transition of Care to Late Adolescent/Adults in Paediatric Surgery: Perspectives From Indian Paediatric Surgeons.

In today’s highly interconnected world, a psychological phenomenon known as “Fear of Missing Out” (FoMO) has become increasingly prevalent. Its main cognitive and behavioral manifestations are a strong desire to stay informed about others’ activities and frequent checking of social media (SM) (). While FoMO is not a formal psychopathological diagnosis but rather a common everyday experience, its strong links to problematic SM use, anxiety, depression, and other adverse mental health consequences have drawn significant scholarly interest (; ; ). Existing research indicates that FoMO is primarily influenced by factors such as personality traits, psychological needs, and patterns of SM use (; ; ). Recently, has linked self-construal with FoMO, demonstrating that how individuals perceive themselves has an important impact on FoMO. Moreover, as research has advanced, scholars have gradually realized that treating FoMO as a single construct may be overly simplistic. Similar to distinctions drawn in psychology between traits such as anxiety and self-esteem, FoMO has been conceptualized as comprising two related yet distinct dimensions: Trait-FoMO and state-FoMO (). Trait-FoMO is regarded as a personality disposition that reflects a persistent concern about missing out on others’ experiences, experienced across various times and situations. By contrast, state-FoMO refers to a transient cognitive bias characterized explicitly by the fear of missing out on information online. Researchers generally agree that examining the differences between trait and state-FoMO is a highly valuable research question in this field (; ). In light of this, the present study will separately examine the effects and mechanisms of interdependent self-construal on trait and state-FoMO, and further explore whether the underlying mechanisms of these two types of FoMO differ. This will not only advance understanding of the mechanisms through which self-construal shapes FoMO and yield practical implications for reducing FoMO to enhance psychosocial functioning, but also provide fresh empirical support for the trait–state perspective of FoMO. Self-construal is defined as the tendency of individuals to understand themselves in relation to a particular referential framework (). distinguished between independent and interdependent self-construals, representing typical self-construals in Western individualistic cultures (independent) and Eastern collectivistic cultures (interdependent). Independent self-construal highlights autonomy and a preference for separation from others, whereas interdependent self-construal focuses on relational connectedness, with self-representations often framed within interpersonal interactions (). Extensive research indicates that independent and interdependent self-construals are not opposite poles of one dimension but can coexist in the same individual, with one orientation usually being more salient (). Furthermore, while self-construal tendencies emerge as stable personality traits shaped by cultural contexts, they can also be situationally primed, such that the dominant self-construal shifts depending on contextual cues (; ).