Psychometric properties of the Arabic Fear of Happiness Scale in a sample of Lebanese adults

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.