Moderating role of Social Connectedness in the Relationship between Fear of Missing Out and Problem Gambling Vulnerability among Adolescent Tourists: Implication for Gambling harm Prevention

Abstract

Problem gambling (PG) prevalence has continued to increase in Nigeria and especially among the youth and young adult population. Adolescents are the most at-risk population for PG and their vulnerability appears to increase as their exposure to gambling opportunities such as fun and leisure settings including visits to parks where card and dice games are common. This survey study explored whether social connectedness moderates the association between fear of missing out (FoMO) and problem gambling vulnerability of adolescent tourists. Data were collected from adolescent tourists (N= 615; age range = 15-19 years; M = 17.02, SD = 2.42) who visited a Nature Park in Nigeria between June and December 2023. The participants were made up of male (n = 564(91.71%)) and female (n = 51(8.29%)) The Fear of missing out scale, social connectedness scale and the problem gambling severity index (PGSI) were the instruments used in measuring FoMO, social connectedness, and vulnerability to PG respectively. We hypothesized that social connectedness would act as an adaptive strategy to minimize problem gambling by weakening the effect of fear of missing out on problem gambling vulnerability. The Hayes PROCESS macro analyses result showed that fear of missing out was positively associated with problem gambling vulnerability. Social connectedness was negatively associated with problem gambling vulnerability, and further weakened the positive association between FoMO and problem gambling vulnerability such that, for tourists who are high on social connectedness, the FoMO-problem gambling vulnerability association was negative while for those with low social connectedness, the