Abstract
Fear of positive evaluation is one of the cognitive features of social anxiety. This study aimed to examine reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the Fear of Positive Evaluation Scale (FPES). Participants were 324 college students. The results of our confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the Japanese version of FPES should include 8 items and consist of one factor, as does the original FPES. The results of our reliability analyses found that internal consistency and the five-week test-retest reliability of the Japanese version of FPES were high. To confirm its validity, relationships of FPES to fear of negative evaluation and social anxiety were examined. Overall, the relationships consistent with those of the original FPES were found. First, fear of positive evaluation was positively related to both social anxiety and fear of negative evaluation. Second, after controlling for fear of negative evaluation, fear of positive evaluation predicted social anxiety. Thus the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of FPES were confirmed, and its utility was discussed.
