Psychometric properties of the Arabic Fear of Happiness Scale-5 items (FHS-5) in a non-clinical sample of Arabic-speaking adults

Abstract

Background: Research suggests that some people believe excessive happiness can lead to negative consequences, based on cultural beliefs and empirical evidence. The fear of Happiness Scale (FHS) was developed to assess people aversion toward happiness. This study aims to assess the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the FHS in a sample of Lebanese population. Methods: The FHS was translated to Arabic following a conventional forward-backward translation procedure and was administered to a sample of 484 Lebanese adults along with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), the WHO-5 Well-Being Index (WHO-5), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale (GAD-5) for convergent validity. The factor structure was studied by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Results: Results suggested a good fit of the one-factor model of the FHS scale with good internal consistency (ω = .95 / α = .95) and excellent convergent (= .80). Measurement invariance was established across sex groups, with no significant difference being reported between males and females in terms of FHS scores (13.27 ± 7.52 vs 13.36 ± 7.04; t(482) = -.12; p = .904). Finally, adequate convergent validity was tested and found to be adequate, with FHS scores found to be correlated negatively with wellbeing and positively with depression and anxiety. Conclusion: This study suggests that the Arabic version of the Fear of Happiness Scale is a valuable tool for researchers and clinicians working with Arabic-speaking populations. It is anticipated that the Arabic FHS will be advantageous for healthcare professionals and researchers working with Arabic-speaking people around the world.