Vulnerable Narcissism, Fear of Missing Out, and Cyber Trolling Behavior in University Students

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the relationship among vulnerable narcissism, fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior in university students. It was hypothesized that 1) There will be positive relationship between vulnerable narcissism, fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior in university students, 2) Vulnerable narcissism and fear of missing out will positively predict the cyber trolling behavior in university students, 3) There will be gender difference in terms of study variables. A correlational cross-sectional research design was used. The sample consisted of 200 university students from various universities in Lahore with the age range of 18 to 30 years (M = 20.63, SD = 2.32) including 91 males and 104 females. Purposive random sampling was used to access the sample. A self-constructed demographic sheet, Maladaptive Covert Narcissism Scale (Cheek et al., 2013), Fear of Missing Out Scale (Mazlum et al., 2022) and Online Trolling Behavior Scale (Hamarta et al., 2021) were used for assessment. The results revealed a positive correlation among vulnerable narcissism, fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior in university students. The results also revealed that fear of missing out positively predicted cyber trolling behavior in university students, however, vulnerable narcissism did not predict it. The results also showed gender differences in terms of fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior indicating men showed higher levels of fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior. The present study will contribute to the field of cyber psychology examining the problems related to vulnerable narcissism, fear of missing out and cyber trolling behavior in university students.  

Keywords: vulnerable narcissism, fear of missing out, cyber trolling behavior