The assessment of the fear of being laughed at in Poland: Translation and first evaluation of the Polish GELOPH<15>

The main aim of the paper was to translate and, for the first time, evaluate the Polish GELOPH<15>. This is a 15-item questionnaire for the subjective assessment of gelotophobia, the fear of being laughed at. Gelotophobia is seen as an individual differences phenomenon at a sub-clinical level. The psychometric properties of the Polish version were tested in two independently collected samples with a total N of 506 participants. The Polish GELOPH<15> yielded good psychometric properties in terms of high reliability in both samples. The fear of being laughed at existed widely independently from the participants’ age, sex, or marital status (being married or living with a partner vs. being single or not living with a partner). The Polish GELOPH<15> can be seen as a reliable instrument for the subjective assessment of gelotophobia for research and practical applications.