Introduction

The Fear of Intimacy Scale (FIS-35) is a self-report psychometric instrument developed to assess an individual’s fear of emotional intimacy and close interpersonal relationships. Emotional intimacy is a fundamental component of healthy psychological functioning, facilitating trust, vulnerability, emotional expression, and the development of meaningful personal relationships. Individuals who experience a high level of fear of intimacy often struggle to establish or maintain close emotional bonds, despite desiring interpersonal connection. Such difficulties have been associated with attachment insecurity, anxiety, depression, interpersonal distress, reduced relationship satisfaction, and impaired psychosocial adjustment. The FIS-35 is widely used in psychological research and clinical practice to evaluate barriers to emotional closeness and to support the assessment of interpersonal functioning across diverse populations.

Description

The Fear of Intimacy Scale consists of 35 self-report items designed to measure the degree of fear, discomfort, and emotional avoidance experienced when developing close interpersonal relationships. The questionnaire examines an individual’s willingness to trust others, disclose personal thoughts and emotions, become emotionally vulnerable, and establish meaningful emotional connections.

Participants respond to each statement using a five-point Likert scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” Responses provide a comprehensive assessment of an individual’s comfort with emotional closeness and their tendency to avoid or resist intimate relationships. The FIS-35 is applicable to both romantic and broader interpersonal relationships and has been widely employed in studies investigating attachment, personality, relationship functioning, and emotional adjustment.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

The Fear of Intimacy Scale produces standardized quantitative data that allow researchers and clinicians to evaluate the degree of fear associated with emotional closeness and interpersonal intimacy. Total scores provide an overall indicator of fear of intimacy, while statistical analyses can be used to investigate associations with numerous psychological and relational variables.

The FIS-35 is commonly employed in studies examining relationships between fear of intimacy and attachment styles, relationship satisfaction, trust, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, social anxiety, loneliness, emotion regulation, psychological well-being, and interpersonal functioning. Because the instrument generates standardized psychometric data, it is suitable for descriptive statistical analyses, reliability assessment using Cronbach’s alpha, exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis (EFA and CFA), correlation analysis, multiple regression, mediation and moderation analysis, structural equation modeling (SEM), multilevel analysis, and longitudinal studies investigating changes in emotional intimacy following psychotherapy, counseling, or relationship interventions.

The available documentation indicates that the FIS-35 has been widely utilized in psychological research and clinical assessment and references the original development and validation studies. However, the available documentation does not report specific numerical reliability or validity coefficients; therefore, no psychometric values should be inferred.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Fear of Intimacy Scale is to evaluate the emotional and psychological responses associated with developing close interpersonal relationships. Specifically, the instrument identifies fears, resistance, and difficulties related to emotional vulnerability, trust, self-disclosure, and the formation of meaningful emotional bonds. The questionnaire supports researchers and mental health professionals in understanding interpersonal functioning, identifying obstacles to healthy relationships, planning individualized therapeutic interventions, and evaluating treatment outcomes aimed at improving emotional intimacy and relationship quality.

Scoring

The Fear of Intimacy Scale consists of 35 items, each rated on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree.” Individual item responses are summed to produce an overall fear of intimacy score.

Higher total scores indicate greater fear of emotional intimacy, reflecting increased discomfort with trust, emotional vulnerability, and the development of close interpersonal relationships. Lower scores indicate greater comfort with emotional closeness and stronger capacity to establish meaningful interpersonal connections.

According to the available documentation, researchers may use predefined score thresholds to classify the severity of fear of intimacy. However, the specific cut-off values, score classifications, and interpretation criteria are not provided in the available documentation and therefore should not be inferred.

Applications

The Fear of Intimacy Scale is widely used in clinical psychology, counseling psychology, psychotherapy, relationship and couples research, family therapy, personality research, and behavioral health studies. It is particularly valuable in investigations examining attachment processes, romantic relationships, interpersonal functioning, emotional regulation, social anxiety, loneliness, self-esteem, and psychological well-being. The instrument is also employed in clinical assessments to identify interpersonal difficulties, monitor therapeutic progress, and evaluate interventions designed to enhance emotional openness, trust, relationship satisfaction, and healthy interpersonal functioning. Owing to its comprehensive assessment of emotional intimacy, the FIS-35 remains an important tool for understanding one of the central dimensions of human relationships and psychological adjustment.