Gelotophobia in India: The assessment of the fear of being laughed at with the Kannada Version of the GELOPH <15>

Abstract

Gelotophobia is defined as the fear of being laughed at. First empirical studies revealed that it is a valid and useful new concept. Furthermore, it was shown that it is of relevance among non-clinical groups and that it should be best conceptualized as a one-dimensional individual differences phenomenon. The present study presents first empirical data on the fear of being laughed at in India (N = 296). It describes the adaptation of an instrument for the subjective assessment of gelotophobia to Kannada. The translation yielded good psychometric properties and especially items referring to controlling oneself strongly in order not to attract negative attention and to appear ridiculous to other people yielded higher endorsements. Gelotophobia was not related to the age, sex, or marital status of the participants. More that one fourth of the participants (27.70 %) exceeded a cut-off score indicating at least a slight expression of gelotophobic symptoms. The results are discussed with respect to the current literature on the fear of being laughed at.