Fear of Happiness Scale – FHS
Measures the belief that happiness or joy may cause bad things to happen.
Scale Development & Technical Details
Scale Overview
The Fear of Happiness Scale – FHS was developed by Mohsen Joshanloo (2013). It is designed to measure Fear of happiness. The scale is intended for use with General population.
Scale Structure
This instrument consists of 5 items.
Response Format
Respondents rate each item using a custom response format.
Response anchors: 1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Somewhat disagree, 3 = A little disagree, 4 = Neither Agree or Disagree, 5 = A little agree, 6 = Somewhat agree, 7 = Strongly agree.
Scoring
Items are summed to produce a total score.
Total scores range from 5 to 35. Interpretation guidelines:
- Low fear of happiness: 5 – 15
- Moderate fear of happiness: 16 – 25
- High fear of happiness: 26 – 35
Psychometric Properties
Internal Consistency: The scale has demonstrated good to excellent internal consistency with reported Cronbach’s alpha values of acceptable.
Administration
The scale is self-administered and typically takes approximately 2 minutes to complete. It can be administered individually or in group settings. No special training is required for administration.