Psychometric properties of the Arabic Fear of Happiness Scale in a sample of Lebanese adults
Abstract
Background: Despite the prominence of happiness as a psychological ideal, not all individuals experience it as inherently positive. In some cultural and psychological contexts, happiness may be approached with ambivalence or apprehension, reflecting concerns about its potential consequences. The Fear of Happiness Scale (FHS) was developed to assess such beliefs. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the FHS among Lebanese adults. 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, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale for convergent validity. The factor structure was studied by Confirmatory Factor Analysis with weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted estimation. Results: Results suggested an acceptable fit of the one-factor model of the FHS scale with good internal consistency (ω = 0.95 / α = 0.95) and excellent convergent validity as shown by the Average Variance Extracted (AVE = 0.87). Measurement invariance was established across sex groups, with no significant difference being reported between males and females in terms of FHS scores. 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 valid 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.
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BibTeX
@article{khoury2026psychometric,
title = {{Psychometric properties of the Arabic Fear of Happiness Scale in a sample of Lebanese adults}},
author = {Marie Anne El Khoury and Diana Malaeb and Fouad Sakr and Mariam Dabbous and Feten Fekih-Romdhane and Souheil Hallit and Sahar Obeid},
journal = {PLoS ONE},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0356389},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05751745v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Psychometric properties of the Arabic Fear of Happiness Scale in a sample of Lebanese adults
AU - Marie Anne El Khoury
AU - Diana Malaeb
AU - Fouad Sakr
AU - Mariam Dabbous
AU - Feten Fekih-Romdhane
AU - Souheil Hallit
AU - Sahar Obeid
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
JO - PLoS ONE
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0356389
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05751745v1
AB - Background: Despite the prominence of happiness as a psychological ideal, not all individuals experience it as inherently positive. In some cultural and psychological contexts, happiness may be approached with ambivalence or apprehension, reflecting concerns about its potential consequences. The Fear of Happiness Scale (FHS) was developed to assess such beliefs. This study evaluates the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the FHS among Lebanese adults. 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, the WHO-5 Well-Being Index, and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale for convergent validity. The factor structure was studied by Confirmatory Factor Analysis with weighted least squares mean and variance adjusted estimation. Results: Results suggested an acceptable fit of the one-factor model of the FHS scale with good internal consistency (ω = 0.95 / α = 0.95) and excellent convergent validity as shown by the Average Variance Extracted (AVE = 0.87). Measurement invariance was established across sex groups, with no significant difference being reported between males and females in terms of FHS scores. 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 valid 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.
SN - 1932-6203
SN - 1932-6203
ER -