Development and initial validation of the Schadenfreude-by-concern inventory in a Japanese sample

This study aims to develop a new measure, the Schadenfreude-by-Concern Inventory (SCI), to assess Schadenfreude as a personality trait and to evaluate its reliability and validity. Existing scales developed to measure trait Schadenfreude have not focused on the triggers that lead to the emergence of Schadenfreude. Therefore, in this study, a new scale was developed to measure trait Schadenfreude by focusing on the typical axes of concern (justice-type, rivalry-type, and aggression-type) observed before Schadenfreude arises. A total of 250 Japanese participants from a wide age range responded to the SCI, along with a set of questionnaires assessing belief in a just world, self-esteem, trait envy, group identification tendencies, and an existing trait Schadenfreude scale. Factor analysis revealed that the SCI has a two-factor structure: self-oriented-type Schadenfreude and justice-type Schadenfreude. The correlations between these factors and external variables showed that justice-type Schadenfreude was positively correlated with belief in a just world, while self-oriented-type Schadenfreude was positively correlated with malicious envy and negatively correlated with self-esteem. These results highlight the distinct nature of the two subtypes of Schadenfreude. The measurement of Schadenfreude using SCI may provide insights for future research into how the tendency to experience these two types of Schadenfreude relates to any decision-making and behavior.