The association between trait anxiety and the fear of being laughed at in college: A preliminary study with a Brazilian sample

Abstract

Aim: To evaluate how gelotophobia correlates with trait anxiety in a sample of Brazilian college students.

Methods: We evaluated the association of GELOPH < 15 > scores with both self-reported experiences of bullying victimization and trait anxiety measures assessed by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). The study consisted of a sample of 65 adult volunteers (M = 21.48, SD = 2.54 years, 38 females), recruited through social media or flyer distribution, and submitted to online versions of the gelotophobia assessment instrument (GELOPH < 15 >) and the STAI.

Results: Most participants (N = 56, 86.15%) had an STAI-T score indicative of high trait anxiety. The average GELOPH < 15 > score of the sample was 2.69 (0.65) and 39 of the subjects (60%) were considered gelotophobes. There was a strong positive correlation between the GELOPH < 15 > and STAI-T scores but no correlation between bullying and either the STAI-T and GELOPH < 15 > scores. However, the great majority of subjects with gelotophobia reported been previously bullied.

Conclusion: In our sample, all gelotophobes had trait anxiety, but only a fraction of anxious subjects had gelotophobia. These preliminary findings expand on previous reports underscoring the high prevalence of mental health problems afflicting higher education students in Brazil.

Keywords: anxiety; bullying; college students; gelotophobia; mental health.