People who experience FOMO are more likely to be promiscuous, shocking study finds
“Fear of Missing Out”? More like “Fear of Missing Orgasms.”
FOMO is intrinsically linked to anxiety about missing a possible opportunity for sex, a spicy new study has confirmed.
FOMO, an acronym popularized by author Patrick J. McGinnis in 2004, has become perceived as a 21st-century phenomenon fueled by social media feeds that implore we remain constantly connected.
However, the new study published in Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, found FOMO has far more ancient — and base — roots.
“Among American adults, we found that higher levels of FOMO were associated with a greater desire to seek out short-term sex partners,” co-author Adam C. Davis declared.
Before undertaking their research, Davis and his fellow academics theorized that FOMO was not simply related to platonic social inclusion and potential networking opportunities.
They cited previous scholarly research asserting that “adults expressing greater FOMO also display qualities that map onto short-term mating proclivities… such as greater sexual risk-taking, interpersonal antagonism and promiscuity.”
In order to test that claim, the academic enlisted 327 heterosexual American adults aged between 19 and 60.
The researchers measured the participants’ differences in their attitudes, behaviors and desires toward short-term mating using a “9-item Sociosexual Orientation Inventory.”
The inventory asks participants to respond to statements with a number between 1 and 9.
Statements included “I can imagine myself being comfortable and enjoying ‘casual’ sex with different partners” and “In everyday life, how often do you have spontaneous fantasies about having sex with someone you have just met?”
Additionally, the participants were asked to measure their general levels of FOMO using a “Fear of Missing Out Scale,” which asked them to respond to statements with a number between 1 and 5.
Statements included: “I fear others have more rewarding experiences than me.”
Sure enough, researchers found that participants who had higher scores on the 9-item Sociosexual Orientation Inventory generally scored higher on the “Fear of Missing Out Scale.”
“Heightened expression of FoMO was related to short-term mating effort in the form of greater unrestricted sociosexual behavior and desires,” they concluded.
However, sex wasn’t the only factor related to FOMO.
The study also uncovered that FOMO was positively associated with a stronger desire to strive for status among members of the same sex.
“FOMO was positively related with a tendency to be combative with same-sex rivals over valued social and reproductive resources, including physical attractiveness, ambition, competence, and wit,” the researchers declared. “This novel finding resonates with and extends previous work showing how those higher in FOMO are more socially combative and often resort to antagonistic surreptitious tactics to avoid feelings of inferiority.”
