Gelotophobia in the Lebanon : the Arabic version of a questionnaire for the subjective assessment of the fear of being laughed at

Abstract EN

Objectives : Gelotophobia, a new clinical construct, is defined as the fear of being laughed at and ridiculed and is measured by the GELOPH < 15 > scale.

The present study describes adaptation of the English version of GELOPH < 15 > to Arabic, using back-translation methodology, and its validation in the Lebanese context.

Method : the Arabic GELOPH < 15 > is administered to a group of Lebanese university students (n = 198) to assess its factor structure and to a second group of 60 university students to assess its relationship to the Arabic Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), the Arabic Center of Epidemiological Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, the Arabic Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL).

Results : the findings support the internal consistency of the scale and its factor structure as a one-dimensional individual differences phenomenon.

The findings also elucidated the relationship of the Arabic GELOPH < 15 >, and to life satisfaction as assessed by the Arabic Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWL).

Conclusion : overall, the results suggest that the Arabic GELOPH < 15 > items are relevant in the Lebanese context, especially those that pertain to the intention of controlling oneself strongly and disengagement from social activities for self-protection from derision.

As importantly, the findings are suggestive that approximately 7 % of the scores exceed a cut-off point of ≥ 2.50, indicative of at least a slight expression of gelotophobic symptoms.