# data[].attributes.headline
Humor styles predict emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19

# data[].attributes.subject
Humor styles predict emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19

# data[].attributes.body
Tested if self-directed humor styles predicted emotional responses to COVID-19, specifically towards stress and  hopelessness.

humor styles, stress, COVID

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humor styles predict emotional and behavioral responses to COVID-19

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A correlational study ( n = 180 adults) in the United States tested the hypothesis that self-directed humor styles predict emotional responses to COVID-19, specifically stress and hopelessness, and in turn predict engagement in protective behaviors. Results from a sequential mediation analysis supported our hypotheses.

# data[].attributes.headline
Humor in the Age of COVID-19 Lockdown: An Explorative Qualitative Study

# data[].attributes.subject
Humor in the Age of COVID-19 Lockdown: An Explorative Qualitative Study

# data[].attributes.body
Sought to explore the use of humor during the period of isolation caused by lockdown measures imposed as a result of the pandemic.

humor, use of humor, COVID

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Background: This study seeks to explore the use of humor during the period of isolation caused by lockdown measures imposed in Italy as a result of the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Subjects and method: The study is based on a non-clinical sample. The ad hoc questionnaire measures people's readiness to search for, publish and distribute humorous material during lockdown. It investigates the intentions behind sending content via social media (WhatsApp or similar) and the emotions experienced on receiving such content.

Results: The responses have been analyzed quantitatively, and using Excel's IF function they have been analyzed qualitatively. In the present sample of 106 Italian respondents, searching for content was less common than publishing it (yes 44.34%, no 54.72%). Positive emotions were more frequently the motivation (total 61.32%). A high percentage sent amusing content via social media or SMS (79%). Responses demonstrating a desire to lessen the situation's negative impact or a desire for cohesion were common. Receiving material was similarly associated with positive emotions and a sense of being close to others.

Conclusions: humorous material appears to have served as a means of transmitting positive emotions, distancing oneself from negative events and finding cohesion.

Similar articles

A nation-wide survey on emotional and psychological impacts of COVID-19 social distancing.

Cerbara L, Ciancimino G, Crescimbene M, La Longa F, Parsi MR, Tintori A, Palomba R. Cerbara L, et al. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2020 Jun;24(12):7155-7163. doi: 10.26355/eurrev_202006_21711. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2020. PMID: 32633412

Inappropriate risk perception for SARS-CoV-2 infection among Italian HCWs in the eve of COVID-19 pandemic.

Riccò M, Vezzosi L, Balzarini F, Bragazzi NL. Riccò M, et al. Acta Biomed. 2020 May 14;91(3):e2020040. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i3.9727. Acta Biomed. 2020. PMID: 32921735 Free PMC article.

Public perspectives on protective measures during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy: A survey study.

Meier K, Glatz T, Guijt MC, Piccininni M, van der Meulen M, Atmar K, Jolink AC, Kurth T, Rohmann JL, Zamanipoor Najafabadi AH; COVID-19 Survey Study group. Meier K, et al. PLoS One. 2020 Aug 5;15(8):e0236917. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236917. eCollection 2020. PLoS One. 2020. PMID: 32756573 Free PMC article.

Future psychiatric services in Italy: lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Pelizza L, Pupo S. Pelizza L, et al. Acta Biomed. 2020 Sep 7;91(3):e2020011. doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i3.10170. Acta Biomed. 2020. PMID: 32921709 Free PMC article. Review.

Technology as a coping tool during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic: Implications and recommendations.

Garfin DR. Garfin DR. Stress Health. 2020 Oct;36(4):555-559. doi: 10.1002/smi.2975. Epub 2020 Aug 13. Stress Health. 2020. PMID: 32762116 Free PMC article. Review. No abstract available.

Advocacy, Hesitancy, and Equity: Exploring U.S. Race-Related Discussions of the COVID-19 Vaccine on Twitter.

Criss S, Nguyen TT, Norton S, Virani I, Titherington E, Tillmanns EL, Kinnane C, Maiolo G, Kirby AB, Gee GC. Criss S, et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 May 26;18(11):5693. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18115693. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 34073291 Free PMC article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
national center for biotechnology information

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humor in the Age of COVID-19 Lockdown: An Explorative Qualitative Study - PubMed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Background: This study seeks to explore the use of humor during the period of isolation caused by lockdown measures imposed in Italy as a result of the Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Subjects and method: The study is based on a non-clinical sample. The ad hoc questionnaire measures people's readiness to search for, publish and distribute humorous material during lockdown.

# data[].attributes.headline
Humor Styles as Moderators in the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Physical Health

# data[].attributes.subject
Humor Styles as Moderators in the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Physical Health

# data[].attributes.body
To study the moderating role of humor styles in the relationship between perceived stress and physical health.

humor styles, stress, physical health

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

This study examined the moderating role of four humor styles, namely, self-enhancing, affiliative, self-defeating, and aggressive humor, in the relationship between perceived stress and physical health. The sample comprised 954 undergraduate students of both genders between the ages of 18 and 43 years ( M = 20 years) from various ethnic backgrounds (68.2% Black African, 19.1% White, 7.3% Colored, and 5.3% Indian). Three self-report measures were administered to assess humor styles, perceived stress, and physical health. Results showed that the self-defeating humor style moderated the relationship between stress and physical health with higher use of this humor style associated with an increase in reported physical health symptoms. The results highlight the role of a self-directed, detrimental humor style in the deterioration of physical health during the perceived experience of stress, thus indicating that one's habitual way of using humor could influence whether physical health outcomes are positive or negative.

Stressful experiences, especially those of a chronic nature, may contribute toward a variety of adverse health outcomes ( Martin, 2002; Schat, Kelloway, & Desmarais, 2005). In this regard, some studies have found that humor could be a coping mechanism or moderator that lessens the impact of frequent stressors ( Lefcourt, 2002; Martin, 2003; Svebak, 2010). These results were, however, contradictory, with some studies finding little or no beneficial outcomes ( Gremigni, 2012). An emphasis on humor as a unidimensional construct has been proposed as playing a role in the lack of stable findings. Confirming the multidimensional nature of humor, Kirsh and Kuiper (2003) found empirical support for two broad sense of humor dimensions which indicate that humor can have both beneficial and detrimental aspects. From this viewpoint, it is possible that buffering of stress and concomitant enhancements in one's health may not only occur as a result of constructive humor usage but also from the avoidance of harmful humor use ( Cann, Stilwell, & Taku, 2010; Gremigni, 2012; Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, & Weir, 2003).

With regard to humor use, Martin et al. (2003) proposed four humor styles, two of which are believed to lead to favorable outcomes and two of which are thought to result in negative outcomes. Affiliative humor refers to humor which is affirming to oneself and others in a tolerant and nonaggressive manner through the use of jokes, witticisms, stories, and laughter. This style of humor functions on an interpersonal level and is often used to foster social cohesion. Aggressive humor, on the contrary, refers to humor that is impulsive and derisive or disparaging toward others, such as sarcasm, teasing, and ridicule. These two humor styles are considered to be other-oriented.

The self-enhancing humor style is used to aid the individual in maintaining an optimistic outlook on life when presented with stressful or adverse circumstances. As a consequence, this style of humor is often regarded as a form of coping humor. The self-defeating humor style is used as a form of self-disparagement to gain others' favor or approval by allowing oneself to be the focus of another's jokes, as well as sharing and contributing to this amusement at one's own expense. These two humor styles are considered to be self-oriented ( Martin et al., 2003).

Past studies have examined the moderating role of sense of humor in the relationship between stress and physical health (e.g., Abel, 1998; Porterfield, 1987), but very little is known regarding the moderating role of the four humor styles in the stress-health relationship. Given the paucity of research focusing on the moderating role of the humor styles in the stress-health relationship and the inconsistency of findings thus far, the aim of the current study was to utilize a parsimonious model to determine whether the four humor styles moderate the effects of perceived stress on physical health.

Theoretical Background

Research regarding the beneficial role of humor in coping with stress gained impetus when Martin and Lefcourt (1983) reported three studies indicating that sense of humor could buffer the harmful effects of stressful life events on mood. Porterfield (1987), however, replicated their research and expanded the scope to include physical health but found no evidence for the stress-buffering effects of humor. In contrast, Abel (2002) reported that a high sense of humor was related to less perceived stress and concluded that a high sense of humor led to beneficial stress coping strategies, such as finding something amusing in stressful circumstances. This, in turn, could lower negative emotional reactions or it could provide an incentive to change a stressful situation. In further studies, evidence for the health and stress-buffering benefits of humor remained equivocal (see Martin, 2004, for a review).

Evidence for the health benefits related to a good sense of humor, regardless of stress factors, is also lacking consistency. For example, a prevalence study in Norway which focused on common bodily symptoms, such as nausea and blood pressure, subjective health satisfaction, and sense of humor found no significant relationships between humor and health indicators among 65,000 participants, although a very weak positive correlation between sense of humor and health satisfaction emerged ( Svebak, Martin, & Holmen, 2004).

In contrast, Peterson, Park, and Seligman (2006) found in a web-based study of 2,087 adult volunteers between the ages of 35 and 44 that, in terms of recovering from a serious physical illness, such as autoimmune disease, infectious disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, and debilitating pain, the use of humor predicted fewer detrimental outcomes in terms of recovery from physical illness. Similarly, in a recent 15-year follow-up study among 53,000 participants in Norway regarding sense of humor and mortality, it was found that humor assisted with recovery from cardiovascular diseases in women and infection-related diseases in men ( Romundstad, Svebak, Holen, & Holmen, 2016).

In terms of the role of the four humor styles in physical health, evidence of humor having an indirect effect has been found. For example, a study examining the extent to which the humor styles and negative affect predict physical health found levels of negative affect to be associated with more physical symptoms, but none of the humor styles emerged as significant predictors when negative affect was controlled for. Self-enhancing humor did, however, emerge as a significant predictor of adaptive coping strategies, such as perspective shifting, whereas aggressive humor predicted denial and less willingness to shift perspective ( Kuiper & Harris, 2009).

Cann et al. (2010) also found that humor styles could play an indirect role in physical illness. In their study, longitudinal data on humor styles, positive personality characteristics, perceived stress, and health outcomes were used to test a theoretical mediation model. Results supported the model and indicated that positive personality characteristics, such as hope and optimism, mediated the relationship between self-enhancing and self-defeating humor and perceived stress which, in turn, predicted beneficial or detrimental health outcomes, respectively.

Cann et al. (2010) concluded that humor styles which focus on the self showed greater potential in terms of influencing the relationship between stress and health than do the other-oriented humor styles. The authors hypothesized that the role of these humor styles may lie in promoting a certain style of thinking and behaving which encourages a more positive personality. Such a personality style could lead to a more optimistic worldview and a tendency to perceive one's life as less stressful which could bring about better physical and psychological health. Cann et al. (2010) concluded that "other directed humor styles are of little importance in understanding the relationship between sense of humor and health outcomes" (p. 227).

Although the study by Cann et al. (2010) did not support other-directed humor styles as significant to the stress-health relationship, Martin (2002) postulated that the use of affiliative humor, an other-directed style, may have indirect stress-buffering and health-enhancing effects as a result of social facilitation and support. Some evidence for this was found by Kuiper and McHale (2009), who studied the role of humor styles as mediators in the relationship between self-evaluative standards and psychological well-being. It was found that higher positive self-evaluative standards led to more use of affiliative humor which resulted in higher social self-esteem and lower levels of depression. On the contrary, higher negative self-evaluative standards led to increased use of self-defeating humor which led to lower social self-esteem and higher levels of depression.

Kuiper and McHale (2009) concluded that more use of affiliative humor could assist in the development and maintenance of social support networks that foster and improve well-being. Thus, it appears as if the affiliative humor style serves more of a beneficial and adaptive function for the purpose of social cohesion and self-esteem than coping directly with stress. High use of self-defeating humor may also play an indirect role by leading to the development of maladaptive social support networks which could result in lower psychological well-being.

Since Martin's (2004) review, it appears as if only one study has focused on humor styles as moderators in the stress-health relationship. Evaluating the stress-buffering role of humor styles in physical health, a study by Freeman and Ventis (2010) examined the moderating role of the humor styles in the relationship between stress and health, including hassles, among 265 retirees. For affiliative humor, a beneficial moderating effect was found regarding general health but only when hassles intensity was high. No significant moderating effects were found for self-enhancing humor in terms of physical health.

In terms of the moderating role of self-defeating humor regarding pain, the maladaptive effect of this humor style only emerged when daily hassles or stress were low. At high levels of daily hassles or stress, a high self-defeating score was related to less pain being reported. Similarly, aggressive humor was found to play an adaptive role when levels of hassles intensity or stress were high ( Freeman & Ventis, 2010).

When gender was added as a moderator, significant results were again only found for the two maladaptive humor styles; however, the above-mentioned results were only found for men. For women, high levels of daily hassles or stress led to detrimental outcomes when self-defeating or aggressive humor use was high. Freeman and Ventis (2010) concluded that the detrimental effects of the aggressive and self-defeating humor styles might only emerge in certain situations and depending on gender. The authors called for more varied samples and different contexts to be included in future studies.

It is clear that the role of the individual humor styles in the stress-health relationship is still unclear, with some studies (e.g., Cann et al., 2010; Kuiper & Harris, 2009) indicating that other variables, such as personality characteristics, could mediate the effect of the humor styles in this relationship. The findings of Freeman and Ventis (2010) show that gender and contextual factors could play a role in terms of humor, stress, and health outcomes among elderly people.

The current study evaluated a parsimonious moderation model and stated the following broad hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: The affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles will be beneficial moderators in the stress-health relationship.

Hypothesis 2: The aggressive and self-defeating humor styles will be detrimental moderators in the stress-health relationship.

Method

Participants

A convenience sample, consisting of 954 introductory psychology students, was included in the study. Participants were Asian (1%), Colored (7.3%), Indian (4.3%), Black (68.2%), and White (19.1%).1 The age of the participants ranged between 18 and 43 years ( M = 20, SD = 2.478), and there were 702 females and 252 males.

Measures

To gather demographic information, a biographical questionnaire was used in which participants were required to indicate their age, gender, and cultural affiliation. Three self-report measures were used to assess individual humor styles, perceived stress, and physical health.

The HSQ ( Martin et al., 2003) measures individual differences in styles of humor. It consists of four scales of eight items each, detailing different humor styles, two of which are other-directed (Affiliative and Aggressive Humor) and two of which are self-directed (Self-Enhancing and Self-Defeating Humor). Responses are measured on a scale ranging from 1 ( totally disagree) to 7 ( totally agree). Affiliative humor is assessed by questions such as, "I laugh and joke a lot with my closest friends," while a sample item of aggressive humor is, "If I don't like someone, I often use humor or teasing to put them down." Self-enhancing humor is represented by questions such as, "Even when I'm by myself, I'm often amused by the absurdities of life," while self-defeating humor is illustrated by questions such as, "I often go overboard in putting myself down when I am making jokes or trying to be funny."

The HSQ has been shown to have satisfactory internal consistency on all four scales, with Cronbach's alphas of .77 for the Aggressive Humor scale, .80 for the Affiliative Humor scale, .80 for the Self-Defeating Humor scale, and .81 for the Self-Enhancing Humor scale. In addition, the HSQ displayed satisfactory test-retest reliability coefficients of .81 to .85 on all four scales ( Bilge & Saltuk, 2007; Hiranandani & Yue, 2014; Martin et al., 2003). Low intercorrelations between the four scales indicate distinction among these different dimensions ( Martin et al., 2003).

The PSS ( Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983) is a self-report measure of individual appraisals of stress. PSS items were designed to measure the extent to which respondents recognized their lives to be "unpredictable, uncontrollable, and overloading" ( Cohen et al., 1983, p. 387). According to Cohen et al. (1983), these three aspects have been consistently found to be fundamental contributors to the experience of stress. The PSS consists of 10 items rated on a 5-point scale ranging from never (0) to very often (4). An example of how these items are presented is, "In the last month, how often have you felt difficulties were piling up so high that you could not overcome them?" The PSS has been shown to have adequate internal consistency. In three samples of college students, Cronbach's alphas ranging between .84 and .86 were established ( Cohen et al., 1983). Test-retest reliability is indicated at .85 for this scale. In terms of predictive validity, the PSS was found to be suitable for the prediction of life events, depressive symptomology, and social anxiety ( Cohen et al., 1983)

The PHQ ( Schat et al., 2005) is used to assess four specific somatic symptoms, namely, sleep disturbances, headaches, gastrointestinal problems, and respiratory illness. The PHQ consists of 14 items pertaining to the frequency with which respondents experience the aforementioned health-related issues. Items 1 to 11 are rated on a 7-point scale relating to the frequency of symptoms, namely, from 1 ( not at all) to 7 ( all the time). These items can be illustrated by questions such as, "How often did you get a headache when you were frustrated because things were not going the way they should have or when you were annoyed at someone?" Items 12 and 13 such as "How many times have you had minor colds (that made you feel uncomfortable but didn't keep you sick in bed or make you miss work)?" are rated in terms of how many times the respondent has experienced specific ailments (0 to 7+ times). Item 14 is rated according to how long a bad cold or flu has lasted (1 to 7+ days). Higher scores on the PHQ indicate more physical health problems.

The reliability and validity of the PHQ were established in two separate samples. Internal consistency analyses of the four PHQ subscales revealed the following Cronbach's alpha values for Studies 1 and 2, respectively: .84 and .86 for the Gastrointestinal Problems subscale, .90 in both samples for the Headaches subscale, .81 in both samples for the Sleep Disturbances subscale, and .70 and .77 for the Respiratory Illness subscale ( Schat et al., 2005).

Procedure

During an introductory psychology lecture, students were advised about the study and its purpose and invited to participate. An incentive was offered in the form of additional course credit. Students were provided with the option to complete an assignment to receive the course credit, if they did not wish to participate in the study. Participants were required to access and complete the questionnaires on the university's online student portal which is only accessible to registered students. Once logged into the portal, participants were provided with more information regarding the purpose of the study and the process of completing the questionnaire.

Data Analysis

Zero-order correlations were calculated first to explore the data and check for multicollinearity. A moderated multiple regression analysis was then performed to determine whether the relationship between perceived stress and physical health is moderated by the four humor styles. Where moderation was found for a specific humor style, a further moderated multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the moderating role of the humor style in isolation from the other styles.

Ethical Considerations

Participants were briefed about the nature of the study and assured that their responses would be confidential. They were informed that the study was voluntary and that they could withdraw at any time without any negative consequences. Although participants had to log in to the online system to participate, their responses were anonymous. The study received institutional approval.

Results

Table 1 shows the means, standard deviations, and Cronbach's alphas of the measures, as well as zero-order correlations among the variables of interest. Significant negative correlations were found between affiliative humor style and physical health ( r = −.083, p < .05), as well as between self-enhancing humor style and perceived stress ( r = −.164, p < .01). The self-defeating humor style showed significant positive correlations with both physical health ( r = .142, p < .01) and perceived stress ( r = .147, p < .01). Physical health showed a significant positive correlation with perceived stress ( r = .440, p < .01).

Means, Standard Deviations, Alphas of the Measures, and Zero-Order Correlations Between Humor Styles, Physical Health, and Perceived Stress.

A hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was performed with physical health serving as the dependent variable, perceived stress as the independent variable, and all four humor styles serving as moderator variables. The results are summarized in Table 2.

Perceived Stress, Physical Health, and the Moderating Effect of the Four Humor Styles.

With perceived stress as the only predictor, R ² = .194, F(1, 960) = 230.878, p < .001. The four humor styles explained an additional 1.3% () of the variance in physical health, Δ R ² = .207, F(4, 956) = 3.980, p < .01. The interaction of perceived stress with the four humor styles explained an additional 0.9% (), Δ R ² = .216, F(4, 952) = 2.617, p < .034. In the third model of the hierarchical analysis, the interaction between perceived stress and self-defeating humor style ( B = .021, SE = .011, t = 2.480, p < .05) was statistically significant.

A hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis was subsequently performed with physical health serving as the dependent variable, perceived stress as the independent variable, and self-defeating humor style as the only moderator variable. The results are summarized in Table 3.

Perceived Stress, Physical Health, and the Moderating Effect of the Self-Defeating Humor Style.

With perceived stress as the only predictor, R ² = .194, F(1, 960) = 230.878, p < .001. Self-defeating humor style explained an additional 0.6% () of the variance in physical health, Δ R ² = .200, F(1, 959) = 7.217, p < .01. The interaction of perceived stress with self-defeating humor style explained an additional 0.6% (), Δ R ² = .205, F(1, 958) = 6.752, p < .05. In the third model of the hierarchical analysis, the interaction between perceived stress and self-defeating humor style ( B = .021, SE = .008, t = 2.598, p < .05) was found to be statistically significantly related to physical health. Figure 1 illustrates this interaction.

Figure 1 displays three statistically significant interaction lines, indicating that the relationship between perceived stress and physical health symptoms is stronger at higher levels of self-defeating humor. More specifically, at low levels of perceived stress, people who score high on the self-defeating humor style display fewer health problems compared with people who are considered to be low on self-defeating humor. However, as perceived stress increases, a reversal in outcomes occurs and greater use of the self-defeating humor style becomes associated with more physical health problems. A possible reason for this could be that, at low levels of perceived stress, people who employ greater use of self-defeating humor could be more realistic about their health. However, as stress increases, self-defeating humor may become more detrimental to the individual, owing to its negative nature. As perceived stress levels increase, a lower than average self-defeating humor style is associated with a lower increase in physical health symptoms. It seems, then, that an above average tendency toward using the self-defeating humor style could be beneficial for one's health at low levels of perceived stress.

Discussion

A negative correlation between the affiliative style of humor and physical health symptoms was found. Thus, greater use of affiliative humor was related to fewer reports of physical health symptoms. This result is in keeping with previous findings, in that affiliative humor might play a role in the production of health-enhancing effects, probably as a result of social facilitation and social support ( Cann & Etzel, 2008; Martin, 2007). Kuiper and McHale (2009) found, for example, that more use of affiliative humor could lead to the development and maintenance of social support networks that foster and improve well-being.

Of particular interest in this study was that no significant correlation was found between affiliative humor and perceived stress. This is in keeping with findings by Martin et al. (2003), who found that the affiliative humor style serves mostly a beneficial and adaptive function for the purpose of social cohesion and self-esteem rather than coping directly with stress. Therefore, it is possible that, in the present study, no significant correlation was found between affiliative humor and perceived stress as university students may use affiliative humor for the purposes of fostering new friendships and social acceptance rather than to cope with stress. Rezan (2007), for example, studied the relationship between the four humor styles and loneliness among university students. Results indicated a strong negative correlation between loneliness and affiliative humor. Overall, low use of affiliative humor was the best predictor of loneliness in this population. Similar findings that support the affiliative humor style as serving a predominantly social function, especially in novel situations, can be found in research by Hampes (2005) and Hiranandani and Yue (2014).

Self-enhancing humor style showed a negative correlation with perceived stress. Martin et al. (2003) found self-enhancing humor to be a beneficial style of humor, which assists the individual in maintaining an optimistic outlook during stressful times. More specifically, the relationship between self-enhancing humor and perceived stress in the current study may be due to the self-enhancing humor style involving perspective taking ( Martin, 2007; Martin et al., 2003). Therefore, owing to the fact that the experience of stress relies strongly on perception ( Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), this style of humor may assist in appraising stressful events as less threatening due to a generally positive outlook on these situations.

It is surprising that self-enhancing humor did not show a significant, negative correlation with physical health symptoms in the current study. As self-enhancing humor serves an adaptive function in terms of boosting the morale of the individual ( Martin, 2007), it might be expected to be associated with decreased reports of physical health symptoms by buffering the individual against negative affectivity. However, while a review of the literature shows self-enhancing humor to be positively correlated with psychological well-being (e.g., Kuiper, Grimshaw, Leite, & Kirsh, 2004; Martin et al., 2003), there appears to be little evidence from past studies (e.g., Kuiper & Harris, 2009) to suggest that a relationship between self-enhancing humor and physical health exists. Unlike stress, physical health can be influenced by both psychological and physiological mechanisms, and therefore might involve a more complex form of cognitive manipulation concerning individuals' perception of events.

In this study, there were positive correlations between the self-defeating humor style and both perceived stress and physical health symptoms. This finding is supported by results reported by Cann et al. (2010) which showed that self-directed humor that lowers a person's self-worth was positively related to the level of stress experienced and, as a consequence, is negatively related to self-reported efficacious physical health. This finding is especially noteworthy in that it highlights that while the use of beneficial humor may allow for better coping with stressors and increased well-being, so too can harmful styles of humor precipitate perceived stress and result in poorer health outcomes. A possible reason for this could be that self-defeating humor can function as an avoidance strategy ( Martin et al., 2003) and stress might therefore not be dealt with constructively, allowing it to increase and become more pervasive, resulting in damage to psychological and physiological systems.

Humor may provide a means of dealing with stress in an effective manner which, in turn, may enhance physical well-being ( Martin, 2002, 2009). However, there is a possibility that certain styles of humor may be more stress-buffering and health-enhancing than others ( Martin, 2002). Results from the current study showed that only self-defeating humor acted as a moderator between perceived stress and physical health. In other words, perceptions of stress and the incidence of negative physical health symptoms tend to increase if the self-defeating style of humor is used.

The self-defeating humor style is characterized by self-disparagement so as to gain social acceptance. Pervasive use of this style indicates emotional neediness, low self-esteem, and avoidance techniques ( Martin et al., 2003). Thus, the negative attributes of self-defeating humor could provide an explanation as to why increased use of this style of humor is likely to result in detrimental outcomes in terms of perceived stress and physical health. If people actively avoid dealing with stress which is causing them anxiety, there is a possibility that the stress experience may be magnified, leading to additional problems, such as poor health. In addition, self-defeating humor is linked to neuroticism, anxiety, and depressed mood. Failing to deal with problems in a constructive manner may serve to increase the effects of these negative characteristics. More specifically, neuroticism is linked to greater experiences of stress and subsequent detrimental health behaviors ( Mroczek, Spiro, & Turiano, 2009). Thus, greater use of self-defeating humor may amplify neurotic behaviors, leading to greater experiences of stress and poorer physical health. In support of this, Cann and Etzel (2008) reported that a sense of humor, which makes use of negative, self-directed forms of humor, acts to suppress the development of positive personality traits and increase the negative appraisal of stressful situations.

Self-defeating humor is used as a means to ingratiate oneself with others ( Martin et al., 2003). Figure 1 shows that, at low levels of perceived stress, this ingratiation and subsequent feeling of belonging could act as a buffer against poor physical health. However, as perceived stress levels increase, successful use of self-defeating humor for social support reasons may start to fail due to over use of this negative style of humor alienating others, thus leading to an increase in poor health. High levels of self-defeating humor are also associated with high levels of neuroticism and low levels of self-worth. It is possible that an increase in stress brings about an increase in anxiety and neuroticism which exacerbates poor self-worth, all of which are associated with poorer health outcomes ( Kuiper & Nicholl, 2004).

Methodological Limitations of the Study

A limitation of this study lies in the sampling method. Employing nonrandom (convenience) sampling techniques is often associated with the resulting sample not being representative of the general population. As the population used in this study consisted of university students, it may not be possible to generalize the results to other populations.

Second, the use of self-report questionnaires does raise questions regarding the reliability and validity of the information gathered. The measurement instruments were selected on the basis that they had been shown to have satisfactory psychometric properties. In the current study, however, all the instruments, except for the HSQ, yielded satisfactory internal consistency. The low Cronbach's alphas found for the HSQ and its subscales are of concern. Despite evidence of satisfactory internal consistency of the HSQ (e.g., Abel, 2002; Cann & Etzel, 2008; Martin et al., 2003), this study found the Cronbach's alphas of the HSQ and its subscales to be low. A possible reason for this may be that humor could be culture-based and, as a result, the four humor styles might manifest in different ways between cultural groups ( Hiranandani & Yue, 2014). Thus, as this study consisted of four ethnic groups, low internal consistency might have resulted as a consequence of the way these different groups conceptualize humor.

The use of self-report questionnaires can also influence findings because of common-method variance, especially in cross-sectional studies ( Lindell & Whitney, 2001). A significant limitation is that cross-sectional designs cannot be used to analyze behavior over time (longitudinally), nor does it allow the researcher to measure the incidence of problems that may develop with time, such as health issues.

Last, although the effect size of the current study indicates some practical value, the small variance explained by the interaction may indicate that other factors could play a more substantial moderating role in the stress-health relationship than humor.

Recommendations for Future Studies

Given the low Cronbach's alphas regarding the HSQ and its subscales found in this study, it might be beneficial for future studies to focus on the development of a South African-based form of the questionnaire. Future research might benefit from alternative or additional means of assessment, other than the use of self-report measures, such as longitudinal observation or physiological measures. This might enable the researcher to make use of a smaller sample allowing him or her to engage in a more in-depth exploration of variables, focusing on the use of humor in different settings and circumstances. Broadening the scope in future studies to include different variables that have known associations with humor, such as personality traits and different types of stressors, could provide significant contributions to the area of humor research.

Authors' Note
Both the authors contributed equally.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

References

Bilge, F., Saltuk, S. (2007). Humor styles, subjective well-being, trait anger and anxiety among university students in Turkey. World Applied Sciences Journal, 2, 464-469.
Google Scholar

Lazarus, R. S., Folkman, S. (1984). Stress, appraisal, and coping. New York, NY: Springer.
Google Scholar

Martin, R. A. (2007). The psychology of humor: An integrative approach. London, England: Elsevier. |
Google Scholar Crossref

Author Biographies

Kirsten Richards is a contract lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. At the time of this study, she was a PhD candidate at the University of Johannesburg.

Gert Kruger is a senior lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. His research focus is on individual differences, especially in terms of the self, executive functioning, and humour.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humor Styles as Moderators in the Relationship Between Perceived Stress and Physical Health - Kirsten Richards, Gert Kruger, 2017

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Abstract This study examined the moderating role of four humor styles, namely, self-enhancing, affiliative, self-defeating, and aggressive humor, in the relationship between perceived stress and physical health. The sample comprised 954 undergraduate students of both genders between the ages of 18 and 43 years ( M = 20 years) from various ethnic backgrounds (68.2% Black African, 19.1% White, 7.3% Colored, and 5.3% Indian).

# data[].attributes.headline
Humor Styles in Indian University Students

# data[].attributes.subject
Humor Styles in Indian University Students

# data[].attributes.body
The study determined the relationship of humor styles, self-esteem, and humor perception of Indian students.

humor styles, self-esteem, humor perception

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Humor Styles in Indian University Students

26 July 2014; 26 November 2014; 08 January 2015

This study examined the relationship between humor styles, self-esteem and humor perception in India. The Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale were used to survey 102 university students in India. Participants were also required to rate on importance of humor and their own level of humor. Results indicated that Indian university students tend to use more adaptive humor styles (affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor) than maladaptive humor styles (aggressive humor and self-defeating humor). The findings also showed that the more adaptive humor styles Indian students used, the better they felt about themselves. The humor styles, self-esteem and humor perception provide useful suggestions for future interventions. The present study needs to be interpreted with caution as it is only based on university students.

Humor is a universal practice and people of different societies perceive and use humor differently [1, 2]. Based on the standards existing in the social and cultural setting, people make judgments of attributional characteristics[3, 4]. For example, certain humor [5] styles could account for possibilities for inter-relations[6]. Humor used in social interactions can be divided into 2 groups (adaptive and maladaptive humor) and further differentiated into 4 humor styles[7]. Humor styles can be divided into adaptive humor that facilitates relationships and lessens interpersonal tensions, and maladaptive humor that is unhealthy and harmful to either themselves or others by disparagement[7, 8]. Adaptive humor includes: (1) affiliative humor that promotes and improves interpersonal relationships, feelings of well-being and reduces conflicts; and (2) self-enhancing humor that enhances and protects oneself by maintaining a realistic perspective on life[7]. Maladaptive humor includes: (3) aggressive humor means to criticize or manipulate others and serves a potentially negative impact towards others; and (4) self-defeating humor, inappropriately amuses humor at the cost of oneself[7]. Thus, this study examines the relationship between humor styles (adaptive or maladaptive humor styles), self-esteem and humor perception in India society.

Humor is found to help people with coping with stress effectively, enjoy life better, experience less negative emotions and have healthier interpersonal relationships [9- 11]. Previous studies also showed that healthy humor was positively related with self-esteem[7, 12]. As such, this study aims to investigate whether humor can influence one's selfesteem level in Indian university students (for example, the higher selfesteem one has, the higher use of affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor they report). Also, as described above, not all humor styles are beneficial (e.g., maladaptive humor styles)[7], one may have low selfesteem due to lack of confidence caused by use of aggressive humor in situations that direct towards one's weight[13]. Hence, humor may diminish human relations and reduce communicative atmosphere.

As to humor perception, valuation of humor and evaluation of self humor were found to be important for humor use [2]. For example, Chinese and Taiwanese university students valued humor less than their counterparts in the West[14, 15]. So individual and cultural differences exist in humor appreciation as well as in humor use as a coping mechanism[11]. After all, the better the person can use and interpret humor, the more competent he is in social situations[11].

Studies of humor styles and humor perception are rare and sporadic in India. Of the few English articles we could find, it argued that the Indian term of mazaak was taken as an alternative word for humor in English and that people engaged in mazaak for mazaa (enjoyment and thrill) [6]. Ramaswami [6] explored the proletarian masculinity and mazaak, reporting that industrial workers in Delhi tended to use gandaa mazaak (vulgar humor) to cope with the hardship at work. Besides, male students scored higher than females on the sense of humor[16].

Given that there have not been any empirical studies that examined the humor styles in Indian society, we conducted the present study to fill in the gap and hypothesizes that: (1) Indian university students would use adaptive humor styles (affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor) more than maladaptive humor styles (aggressive humor and self-defeating humor) (Hypothesis 1); (2) Indian males would value humor more than females and consider themselves more humorous than females (Hypothesis 2); and (3) self esteem would be positively correlated with adaptive humor styles and be negatively correlated with maladaptive humor styles (Hypothesis 3).

2.1 Participants

The participants in the present study were sampled from universities in India. 102 undergraduate students (61 males; 41 females) were recruited randomly from University of Mumbai and University of Calcutta. The participants' age ranged from 18 to 25 years ( M = 21.06, SD = 1.69). The participants were recruited from the university campus' canteens randomly and they belonged to journalism, education, social sciences, engineering, law, and business faculties.

2.2 Measures

The questionnaire included the Humor styles Questionnaire and the Rosenberg Self-esteem scale and also required the participants to rate the importance of humor and their self humor.

The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ,[7]) measures the four humor styles: affiliative humor (e.g., "I laugh and joke a lot with my friends"), self-enhancing humor (e.g., "My humorous outlook on life keeps me from getting overly upset or depressed about things"), aggressive humor (e.g., "If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it"), and self-defeating humor (e.g., "I let people laugh at me or make fun at my expense more than I should"). It comprised of four 8-item scales and rating on a 7-point Likert scale sub-ranging from totally disagree to totally agree. In the present sample, the Cronbach's Alpha of affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and selfdefeating humor was .74, .64, .50, and .58, suggesting that the scale is reliable to use as an instrument.

The Rosenberg Self-esteem scale (RSES, [17]) measures how well one feel about himself. It consisted of 10 general statements about the self (e.g., "On the whole, I am satisfied with myself) in which participants are required to rate the items on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. This scale has been widely used and has shown good reliability and validity[17, 18]. The Cronbach's Alpha (α = .74) reflected the high reliability for the use in this scale in this sample.

Finally, all participants were required to rate on a 10-point Likert scale (1=lowest; 10=highest): (1) the importance of humor to them ("How important is humor to you?"), and (2) their own level of humor ("Rate your own level of humor/self humor").

2.3 Procedures

The participants were invited to complete a questionnaire on a voluntary basis during lecture or tutorial time. The questionnaire administered to all participants was in English as all the participants use English as the language while in class and were competent using the language. The completion of the questionnaire took approximately 15 to 20 minutes. Lastly, the data collected were then entered in SPSS 20 and the mean differences and correlations were conducted through independent t-tests, ANOVA and bivariate correlation.

In regard to humor styles, the outcome notes with satisfaction that Indian university students used adaptive humor styles significantly more than maladaptive humor styles and hypothesis 1 was supported (Table 1). Therefore, this study's results validate previous findings, which emphasized that collectivistic cultures use the affiliative, and self-enhancing humor styles more than the aggressive and selfdefeating humor styles (F (3, 303) = 49.33, p < .001;[11, 19].

For the humor perception, Indian males evaluated their humor level significantly higher than Indian females (t = 2.48, p = .015). Females valued the importance of humor more than males; however, no significant results were reported, offering partial support to hypothesis 2 (Table 2).

Table 3 provides an overview of the correlation between humor styles, self-esteem and humor perception. Affiliative humor was positively correlated with self-enhancing humor ( r = .42, p = .000). Self-defeating humor was positively correlated with aggressive humor ( r = .25, p = .011). Partially supporting hypothesis 3, self-esteem was positively correlated with adaptive humor styles (affiliative humor, r = .35, p = .000; self-enhancing humor, r = .33, p = .001) and negatively correlated with self-defeating humor ( r = -.22, p = .03). Moreover, importance of humor was positively correlated with adaptive humor (affiliative humor, r = .35, p = .000; self-enhancing humor, ( r = .25, p = .012) and self-esteem ( r = .27, p = .007). Self humor was positively correlated with self-enhancing humor ( r = .22, p = .029), self-defeating humor ( r = .21, p = .03), self-esteem ( r = .25, p = .01) and importance of humor ( r = .43, p = .000).

This is the first study to examine humor styles in India. Very few studies on humor styles have included an Indian sample that may help to explain the themes in Indian psychology, personality and communication.

This study showed that Indian students used adaptive humor styles more than maladaptive humor styles. This reflects that Indian students tend to use mazaak (humor) to enhance relationships [6]. This could be attributed to that collectivism is emphasized in Indian culture[20- 23], as such adaptive humor promotes reciprocity and interdependence among people. This also shows that humor styles matters for interpersonal relationships and communications, that is, affiliative and self-enhancing humor enhance social harmony and selfesteem while aggressive and self-defeating humor do otherwise[7, 11].

Similarly, males considered themselves to be more humorous than females. This is in line with previous studies that males felt more competent of humor use than females [11, 24]. Moreover, valuation of humor was positively correlated with adaptive humor and self-esteem. This implies that the more students valued humor, the more adaptive humor styles they used, and the better they felt about themselves[25, 26]. This also reflects an important factor in determining who we are and how we think of ourselves[11, 27].

It was convincing to note that for the present Indian sample, self-esteem is positively correlated with adaptive humor styles and is negatively correlated with self-defeating humor for Indian students. This echoes previous findings that use of adaptive humor styles enhances self-esteem, peer acceptance, group identity and cohesiveness [8, 25].

In short, humor matters in Indian societies. Maslow argued that humor is a characteristic of good health [28]. Self-actualizing people acquire non-aggressive humor styles to cope with stress[28], and people who score high on humor measures tend to have higher selfesteem[25], not to mention that this was also found in the present study.

Although this study demonstrated profound results in Indian humor styles, there were a few limitations to note. Firstly, this study reported that Indian students' use of adaptive humor styles (affiliative and self-enhancing humor) was most preferred; the self-report measure may limit participants' responses. Future studies ought to include qualitative measures to determine the extent to which these findings of Indian humor are consistent. Secondly, longitudinal studies in the future can help to determine the contribution of humor styles to other factors contributing to psychological well-being, such as, emotional well-being, subjective happiness and resilience. This study considered the Indian university students' use humor styles as their preferred social interaction styles and social influence of significant others. Lastly, as this is a pioneering study, the value of this study lies in that it is the pioneering study ever conducted in India. It will provide the initial findings for later verification and discussion. Future studies should consider collecting more data from people from different walks of life to validate this study's findings.

1. Martin RA (2007) The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative approach. Burlington. MA: Elsevier Academic Press [Google Scholar]

2. Yue XD (2010) Exploration of Chinese humor: historical review, empirical findings, and critical reflections. Humor 23: 403-420 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

3. Csikszentmihalyi M (1988) Society, culture, and person: a system view of creativity. In Sternberg RJ (Ed) The nature of creativity. New York: Cambridge University Press. 325-339

4. Ludwig AM (1992) Culture and creativity. Am J Psychother 46: 454-469 [CrossRef] [PubMed]

5. Maslow A (1968) Toward a Psychology of Being. New York: Van Nostrand

6. Ramaswami S (2006) Masculinity, Respect, and the Tragic: Themes of Proletarian Humor in Contemporary Industrial Delhi. Int Rev Soc Hist 51: 203-227 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

7. Martin RA, Puhlik-Doris P, Larsen G, Gray J, Weir K (2003) Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the humor styles questionnaire. J Res Pers 37: 48-75 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

8. Klein D, Kuiper N (2006) Humor styles, peer relationships, and bullying in middle childhood. Humor 19: 383-404 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

9. Cheung CK, Yue XD (2012) Sojourn students' humor styles as buffers to achieve resilience. Int J Intercult Rel 36: 353-364 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

10. Kuiper N, Olinger J (1998) Humor and mental health. In H. Friedman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of mental health. 2: 445-457

11. Yue XD, Hao X, Goldman GL (2010) Humor styles, dispositional optimism and mental health: a study among 800 undergraduates in Hong Kong and Mainland China. J Psychol Chinese Soc 11: 173-188 [Google Scholar]

12. Kuiper NA, Grimshaw M, Leite C, Kirsh G (2004) Humor is not always the best medicine: Specific components of sense of humor and psychological well-being. Humor 17: 135-168 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

13. Hoffmeister K, Teige-Mocigemba S, Blechert J, Klauer KC, Tuschen-Caffier B (2010) Is implicit self-esteem linked to shape and weight concerns in restrained and unrestrained eaters? J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry 41: 31- 38 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [PubMed]

14. Liao CC (2001) Taiwanese perceptions of humor: A sociolinguistic perspective. Taipei: Crane

15. Chen G, Martin R (2007) A comparison of humor styles, coping humor, and mental health between Chinese and Canadian university students. Humor 20: 215-234 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

16. Madhan B, Barik AK, Patil R, Gayathri H, Reddy MS (2013) Sense of humor and its association with psychological disturbances among dental students in India. J Dent Educ 77: 1338-1344 [Google Scholar] [PubMed]

17. Rosenberg M (1965) Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press [Google Scholar]

18. Greenberger E, Chen C, Dmitrieva J, Farruggia SP (2003) Item-wording and the dimensionality of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale: Do they matter? Personality and Individual Differences, 35: 1241-1254 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

19. Yue XD, Hao X, Lan L, Yan F (2006) Humor and Youth Empowerment: A Self-Cultivation Approach. Paper Presented at the 2nd International Conference on Youth Empowerment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China: June 5-8, 2006

20. Tamis-LeMonda CS, Hughes D, Yoshikawa H, Kalman RK, Niwa E and et al. (2008) Parents' Goals for Children: The Dynamic Coexistence of Individualism and Collectivism in Cultures and Individuals. Social Dev 17: 183-209 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

21. Sinha JB, Vohra N, Singhal S, Sinha RBN, Ushashree S (2002) Normative predictions of collectivist-individualist intentions and behaviour of Indians. Int J Psycho 37: 309-319 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

22. Bond MH (1996) Handbook of Chinese psychology. New York Oxford University Press

23. Ho DYF (1995) Selfhood and identity in Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and Hindism: contrasts with the West. J Theo Soc Behav 25: 115-139 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

24. Yue XD (2011) The Chinese ambivalence to humor: Views from University students in Hong Kong and China. Humor: Int J Humor Res 24: 463-480 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

25. Kuiper NA, Martin RA (1993) Humor and self-concept. Humor: Int J Humor Res 6: 251-270 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

26. Yue XD, Liu KW, Jiang F, Hiranandani NA (2014) Humor styles, selfesteem, and subjective happiness. Psychol Rep 115: 517-525 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar] [PubMed]

27. Sahoo FM, Mohapatra L (2013) Psychological well-being in professional groups. J Indian Acad App Psychol 35: 211-217

28. Veale T., Feyaerts, K., and Brône G. (2006). The Cognitive Mechanisms of Adversarial Humor. Humor 19: 305-338 [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humor Styles in Indian University Students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
International Journal of Psychology & Behavior Analysis (IJPBA) is an international peer reviewed journal devoted towards psychology and behavior analysis. Articles published in IJPBA, including high quality papers, cover all the major areas in psychology and behavioral sciences. IJPBA keeps updating day-to-day research & development in the scientific communities around the world.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Moderating Role of Employees’ Humor Styles on the Relationship between Job Stress and Emotional Exhaustion

# data[].attributes.subject
The Moderating Role of Employees’ Humor Styles on the Relationship between Job Stress and Emotional Exhaustion

# data[].attributes.body
To  investigate  the  moderating role  of  employees’  humor  styles  on  the  relationship  between  job  stress  and  emotional  exhaustion.

humor styles, job stress, emotional exhaustion

Note: Full-text of the study is provided within the link

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
h-index (December 2020): 75

i10-index (December 2020): 643

h5-index (December 2020): 21

h5-median(December 2020): 30

( The data was calculated based on Google Scholar Citations. Click Here to Learn More. )

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Moderating Role of Employees' Humor Styles on the Relationship between Job Stress and Emotional Exhaustion | Oktug | International Business Research | CCSE

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
h-index (December 2020): 75 i10-index (December 2020): 643 h5-index (December 2020): 21 h5-median(December 2020): 30 ( The data was calculated based on Google Scholar Citations. Click Here to Learn More. )

# data[].attributes.headline
Humor Types Show Different Patterns of Self-Regulation, Self-Esteem, and Well-Being

# data[].attributes.subject
Humor Types Show Different Patterns of Self-Regulation, Self-Esteem, and Well-Being

# data[].attributes.body
The study aimed at investigating which combinations of humor styles exist and to which extent these humor types are associated with well-being.

humor styles, self-regulation, self-esteem, well-being

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Humor styles have been found to be associated with well-being, however, no study has addressed the distinct well-being associations of combinations of humor styles, that is, humor types, yet. The present study thus aimed at investigating which combinations of humor styles exist and to which extent these humor types are associated with well-being. In an online questionnaire, the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ, Martin et al. J Res Pers 37:48-75, 2003), self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being instruments were administered to a German sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses replicated the underlying structure of the HSQ. With hierarchical clustering, we found evidence for three humor types (endorsers, humor deniers, and self-enhancers), which differed in group means for self-esteem, self-regulatory strategies, and well-being. Findings provide further evidence for the positive well-being correlates of self-enhancing humor, and distinctly address the positive correlates of aggressive and self-defeating humor being absent. It is discussed that humor styles cannot be conceptualized as beneficial or detrimental per se, but have to be regarded in context.

Introduction

It is widely believed that humor is an important resource for well-being. Confronted with a difficult life situation, a German saying goes " have a sense of humor" and reveals the implicit assumption that making jokes or enjoying absurdities of current life circumstances might help in overcoming a stressful life situation. Humor, conceptualized as a habitual behavior pattern with the general tendency to laugh or tell funny stories, is a multifaceted construct that might be used, for example, to cheer up others as well as oneself or to engage in personal relations (see Martin et al. 2003, for a review of literature). One might also differentiate humor-related behaviors by the manner in which the humor is delivered, for example, if humor is used to devaluate oneself or others or to appraise one's or others' abilities, respectively. The manner in which humor is delivered is widely accepted as disposition and therefore as certain style of humor. There is reason to believe that humor plays an important role in explaining well-being. Several sayings, like the one introduced earlier, remind us of the "healing nature of laughter" or the effectiveness of "coping with humor". Empirical evidence, particularly by Martin et al. ( 2003), shows important associations of humor styles with well-being. However, humor as a psychological construct is characterized by styles that are closely interrelated but not equally adaptive for well-being (e.g., Martin et al. 2003; Ruch 2007). By investigating different constellations of humor styles, new associations might emerge and advance the understanding of humor styles and their association with well-being. Therefore, the present study will develop and use a typology of humor styles similar to the approach of Galloway ( 2010). Building upon the framework of Martin et al. ( 2003), and in an attempt to further clarify the associations between humor styles and their contribution to promote well-being, this contribution will investigate how humor types are related to self-regulatory strategies, quality of life, and well-being.

Typology of Humor Styles

To assess differences in humor styles, Martin et al. ( 2003) developed the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), an instrument designed to assess habitual humor-related behavior patterns, that is, different styles of humor. They distinguish four humor styles on the two continua "humor to enhance self versus relationships with others" and "benign versus potentially detrimental humor". To define these humor styles, Martin et al. ( 2003) illustrate the humor styles with their potential outcomes in terms of well-being and social interactions. Firstly, affiliative humor reflects a humor style that is used to enhance one's relationships with others in a relatively benign way. It is the tendency to tell jokes and funny stories, in order to amuse and laugh with others. Self- enhancing humor refers to humor to enhance the self in a tolerant way and is the tendency to maintain a humorous outlook on life to cheer oneself up (Kuiper et al. 1993). Aggressive humor is a hostile form of humor to enhance the self at the expense of others and included sarcastic or criticizing humor. Lastly, self- defeating humor is used to enhance relationships with others at the expense and detriment of the self. A self-defeating use of humor is to make fun of oneself for the enjoyment of others, that is, to use humor in a self-disparaging way, or laughing along with others when being made fun of (cf. Chen and Martin 2007). Although there are many concurrent approaches that aim at assessing humor as a form of creativity, i.e., productive ability (e.g., Brodzinsky and Rubien 1976) or as moral value (Ruch et al. 2010a, b), dispositional humor styles have been found to be validly assessed by the HSQ. For example, humor styles have been shown to distinctly correlate with the "dark triad" traits of personality, namely aggressive humor with narcissism, Macchiavellism, and psychopathy (Veselka et al. 2010). However, it is unclear why only singular, one-dimensional associations of humor styles with well-being and personality measures have been investigated to date. First, one-dimensional associations of humor styles with well-being might be inconclusive because different motivational strivings could underlie the use of humor. For example, aggressive humor can be seen as antisocial and detrimental for social interactions, but could also be useful in enhancing one's feelings of being superior to others or useful in keeping one's place in the social hierarchy, which both might involve a sense of competence, control, and well-being. Self-defeating humor, as a second example, might be useful to (re)negotiate one's place in the social hierarchy, to amuse others by making a fool of oneself, and therefore, in general, to affiliate with others. In this line of reasoning, different humor styles might be combined according to motivational strivings. Second, one-dimensional approaches might be less fruitful than multi-dimensional approaches considering that it is highly implausible that individuals make use of only one certain distinct humor style. Nonetheless, there are-to the best of our knowledge-no assumptions about individual patterns in the use of humor styles. Thus, an exploration of the individual differences in combining the four humor styles would certainly enhance knowledge in this domain. A study conducted parallel to the present contribution provided valuable results in an Australian sample on regrouping humor styles into more broader categories of humor types (Galloway 2010). Galloway showed several associations of the humor types with personality trait measures as a means to explain humor types. A further comparison of the present and Galloway's study will be provided in more detail later. In sum, there are several reasons for preferring multi-dimensional over one-dimensional approaches in the investigation of humor styles, which should thus not be considered as beneficial or detrimental per se. In the present contribution, we therefore aim at further enhancing knowledge on the combinations of dispositional humor styles by investigating which combinations of humor styles exist and thus to develop a typology of humor styles. Investigating the assocations of these humor types with quality of life and well-being measures might advance the understanding of the contribution of humor in explaining quality of life and well-being.

Humor and Well-Being

Concerning the beneficial versus detrimental nature of humor, what do we know about the associations between humor and well-being so far? Empirical evidence on links between physical health, humor, and laughter is "weak and inconclusive" (Martin 2001) and some components of humor even seem detrimental for physical health (Kerkkanen et al. 2004). However, much research has been conducted concerning the associations between components of humor and psychological well- being (e.g., Kuiper et al. 2004; Lefcourt and Thomas 1998; Marziali et al. 2008; Olson et al. 2005; Thorson and Powell 1993; Yip and Martin 2006). In general, humor seems to facilitate psychological health and well-being (Thorson et al. 1997) and seems to buffer the impact of stressful life events (Nezu et al. 1988). The positive relationship between sense of humor and well-being is moderated by personality constructs, for example feelings of agency and communion (Kuiper and Borowicz-Sibenik 2005). Also, humor styles have been shown to mediate the association between self-evaluative standards and psychological well-being (Kuiper and McHale 2009). In the present study, we will focus on humor styles and take into account Martin et al.'s findings (2003): They examined the four humor styles regarding their associations with well-being and found multiple significant associations with different well-being measures, especially for self-enhancing and affiliative humor. There, affiliative humor was positively associated to measures of well-being and self-esteem, and negatively related to anxiety and depression. Self- enhancing humor showed the same, and an even stronger, correlation pattern, but was also significantly associated with optimism. Aggressive humor was associated with aggression and hostility, but not with well- or ill-being measures of any kind. Self- defeating humor, lastly, correlated highly positively with anxiety, depression, hostility, aggression, and psychiatric and somatic symptoms, and, negatively, with self-esteem and well-being. These correlation patterns have for the most part been replicated in an Armenian sample (Kazarian and Martin 2006). However, aside from findings on straightforward associations of humor styles with well-being and pathology, it is unclear to which extent individuals are equipped with different combinations of humor styles and if these combinations of humor styles show different associations with well-being. It is highly plausible, considering the moderate, but not too strong associations between the humor styles, that individuals differ in the constellations of humor styles. Differential constellations of humor styles might lead to differential associations with well-being. For example, it is intuitively likely that high levels of aggressive humor in combination with high self-enhancing humor are beneficial, whereas aggressive humor in combination with high self-defeating humor is detrimental for well-being. However, these differential associations might not be visible in correlative, mean-level analyses. Therefore, we believe that it is important to use a person-centered, typological approach to investigate combinations of humor styles, that is, humor types. These humor types will then be investigated with regard to associations with different well-being measures. First, self- esteem has been found to be an important resource for well-being dependent upon humor styles (Martin et al. 1993). The construct life satisfaction, also investigated earlier in humor research, represents the cognitive-evaluative component of quality of life or well-being (Diener et al. 1985). Further extending the study of humor and its associations with self-esteem and well-being, we were interested in examining associations of humor and self-regulatory strategies. Self- regulatory strategies are behavior patterns concerning the pursuit of goals and can be differentiated in the general tendencies to pursue goals even in the face of obstacles ( tenacious goal pursuit) or to adjust personal goals when faced with situational constraints ( flexible goal adjustment; Brandtstädter and Renner 1990). To our knowledge, no study has investigated the associations of humor styles and self-regulatory strategies yet. Self-regulatory strategies have been conceptualized as resources that have been shown to be differentially associated with well-being (Brandtstädter and Greve 1994; Forstmeier and Maercker 2008; Wrosch et al. 2003). Self-regulatory strategies are regarded as important precursors to well-being even in the face of adverse circumstances (Brandtstädter and Greve 1994). Both self-regulatory strategies and humor styles have been conceptualized as disposition "buffering" stressful events and as means to cope with adversities. Further, both affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles and flexible goal adjustment share a positive reinterpretation of a (perhaps adverse) situation. Therefore, it can be assumed that affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles (and humor types characterized by these styles) are positively associated with flexible goal adjustment. The relationship of humor styles and humor types with tenacious goal pursuit will be investigated without specific assumptions.

Research Questions

Our study is guided by three steps: First, the structure of the Humor Styles Questionnaire found by Martin et al. ( 2003) will be replicated in a German sample to ensure comparability of results. Secondly, patterns of humor styles will be investigated guided by the question if individuals can be grouped according to different combinations of the four humor styles and develop a typology of humor styles. Lastly, the research question will be explored if humor types differ with respect to associations with self-regulatory strategies, and in their contribution to explaining self-esteem and well-being.

This research question was investigated in a sample of adolescents and adults in young and middle adulthood. In exploratory and confirmatory analyses, the factor structure of the HSQ was investigated. Secondly, with hierarchical clustering, three humor types were identified. Lastly, in analyses of variance, the associations between humor types, self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being were examined.

Method

Data Collection

Data collection took place within the work on the diploma thesis of the second author. Due to time limitations, the convenience sample was acquired through e-mail distribution of a link to the online questionnaire.1 A total of 348 individuals participated in the study. Data of three persons were eliminated because of too short duration of processing the questionnaire and another three persons because of missing data. So, the data of N = 342 participants could be used. Reported age ranged from 15 to 73 years ( M = 28.35 years, SD = 10.52). However, after data screening and due to the nonnormal distribution of the age variable (see below), data of N = 305 individuals with an age range of 15-40 years were retained for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Slightly different sample sizes are due to some randomly missing data in the self-regulation inventory (Brandtstädter and Renner 1990, see below). A total of 218 participants were female (71.6 %). When asked for relationship status, 44.2 % reported to be in a relationship, 38.3 % to be single, 17.3 % to be married, and 0.3 % were divorced. In Table 1, age range and relationship status are presented for men and women.

Participants were asked to report their professional status or their profession, respectively. Unfortunately, no information about educational status was available. Therefore, information on profession was recoded with regard to jobs requiring a graduate degree or not. According to this information, more than half of the sample were students ( n = 193, 56.4 %) and n = 83 (24.3 %) were employed in jobs without graduate degree. A total of 40 participants (11.7 %) worked in jobs requiring a university degree, n = 11 (3.2 %) were students in a secondary school (comparable to a US high school or college), n = 6 (1.8 %) were retired, and n = 4 (1.2 %) in an apprenticeship.

Instruments

Self-Esteem

The revised German version of the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale was used (Ferring and Filipp 1996; Von Collani and Herzberg 2003). An example item is " All in all, I am satisfied with myself". The widely used scale contains 10 items with a four-point response format and the anchors not at all true and completely true ( M = 3.17, SD = 0.54, α = .90).

Self-Regulatory Strategies

We used an instrument developed by Brandtstädter and Renner ( 1990) to assess self-regulative strategies in German language. We administered the scales tenacious goal pursuit (TEN) and flexible goal adjustment (FLEX), each containing 15 items. Tenacious goal pursuit reflects an assimilative tendency to "adjust developmental situations to personal preferences" (Brandtstädter and Renner 1990, p. 64). An example item for tenacious goal pursuit is " The harder a goal is to achieve, the more desirable it often appears to me" ( M = 3.42, SD = 0.58, α = .85). Flexible goal adjustment is an accommodative tendency and measures the extent to which one adjusts personal preferences to situational constraints. An example item for flexible goal adjustment is " I can adapt quite easily to changes in a situation" ( M = 3.37, SD = 0.57, α = .85). Respondents were asked to rate their agreement with the items on a five-point rating scale with the end points not at all true and completely true.

Well-Being

The widely used Satisfaction with Life Scale (Pavot and Diener 1993) was administered. The scale contains five items with a seven-point rating scale with the anchors totally disagree and totally agree ( M = 4.87, SD = 1.37, α = .86). An example item is " I am satisfied with my life". All measures were presented with a response format providing only the scale anchors due to formatting issues. Descriptives, internal consistencies, and interrelations of self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem and well-being are also presented in Table 2. Interrelations were highly significant, which is to be expected regarding the already mentioned relations between the constructs.

Humor Styles

We administered a German version of the Humor Styles Questionnaire, translated by the second author. The translation was checked by a native English speaker. The Humor Styles Questionnaire contains 32 items, each of the four scales consists of 8 items (see Martin et al. 2003, for the original scales; see Müller 2009, for the German version). Respondents rated their agreement with the items on a seven-point rating scale ( totally disagree- totally agree).

Strategy of Data Analysis

Data screening revealed a nonnormal distribution of the age variable since only 10 % of the sample was aged over 40 years ( n =37). With respect to interpretability of results, a transformation of this variable was considered to be contraindicated. The exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted for the whole sample. However, to exclude age as a possible confound and to acknowledge potential developmental changes in humor styles and associations with well-being over the life course, we used a subsample of participants aged up to 40 years for cluster and variance analyses. In this subsample, age was normally distributed. This subsample consisted of N = 305 participants aged 15-40 years ( M = 25.17, SD = 4.60). Supporting the assumption of age-differences over the life course and the strategy of investigating a less age-heterogeneous sample, differences between retained and screened sample emerged in the way that affiliative humor scores were higher, whereas scores of aggressive humor were lower in the screened sample (both p values < .001). Other differences did not get significant. Age-related differences in humor styles will be discussed below.

Firstly, to examine the underlying structure of the Humor Styles Questionnaire, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses with the whole sample were performed. Secondly, differential constellations of humor styles, so called humor types, were investigated. Therefore, in order to find different humor types, hierarchical clustering was performed. Lastly, to answer the research question on whether humor types differ in self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, or well-being, analyses of variance (ANOVAs) and post hoc tests were performed. Analyses were carried out with Amos 17.0 and PASW (former SPSS) 18.0.

Results

Factor Structure of the German HSQ

To ensure validity of the HSQ, we aimed at comparing the underlying factor structure of the HSQ in our German sample with Martin et al.'s ( 2003) findings. Assumptions for data analysis with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were met. The 32 items of the German version of the HSQ were factor analyzed with exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factoring and varimax rotation). Firstly, after running an exploratory factor analysis, a factor solution emerged that was highly consistent with Martin et al.'s ( 2003) findings. As in the Canadian sample, according to the scree plot a four factor solution seemed optimal that explained 45.8 % of the total variance. The first four initial eigenvalues were 6.18, 3.84, 2.75, and 1.89 (the next three eigenvalues were 1.3, 1.2, and 1.0). Items loaded on the same factors as presented in Martin et al.'s ( 2003) analyses. Some, mainly minor, differences in factor loadings were found: For items constituting the self- enhancing scale, item 30 (" I don't need to be with other people to feel amused- I can usually find things to laugh even when I'm by myself") had a significant factor loading in the original but not in the German sample ( a G = .16 vs. a or = .58). For the scale aggressive, items 11 and 19 (" When telling jokes or saying funny things, I am usually not very concerned about how other people are taking it" and " Sometimes I think of something that is so funny that I can't stop myself from saying it, even if it is not appropriate for the situation") showed slightly lower factor loadings in the German sample ( a G = .33 vs. a or = .53; and a G = .26 vs. a or = .48, respectively). In fact, item 19 had a slightly higher loading on the factor constituted by items of affiliative humor ( a G = .34). However, items of the scale self- defeating and affiliative were all similar in value and significance. Additionally, a confirmatory factor analysis was carried out that tested the model of Martin et al. ( 2003). Hu and Bentler ( 1999) suggest to accept RSMEA values close to .06 or below as reasonably good. The model showed acceptable fit (German sample: RMSEA = .06, CMIN/DF = 2.319). The indices in the German sample were only slightly lower than in Martin et al.'s findings (Canadian sample: RMSEA = .05, CMIN/DF = 3.37).

Descriptive Analyses

The humor scales affiliative, self- enhancing, aggressive, and self- defeating were constructed according to the original HSQ scales presented in Martin et al. ( 2003). Internal consistencies of the German HSQ scales were moderate to good and comparable to findings of Martin et al. ( 2003). Participants scored highest on affiliative humor ( M = 5.87, SD = 0.78; α = .78), followed by self- enhancing humor ( M = 4.60, SDSD = 1.04; α = .83), and aggressive humor ( M = 4.04, SD = 0.94; α = .74). The lowest scores were found on self- defeating humor ( M = 3.39, SD = 1.10; α = .84). Most correlations between the German HSQ scales were quite similar to the original HSQ scales in absolute value and significance level (see Table 2). However, two notable differences in the correlation pattern emerged: While the original affiliative and self- defeating scales were not correlated, we found a small association of the scales in the German sample ( r = .13, p < .05). Similarly, self- enhancing and self- defeating humor did not correlate in the original study, whereas in the German sample, we found a quite remarkable association ( r = .18, p < .01). Descriptive statistics are reported in Table 3.

Cluster Analysis

In a next step, it was examined with cluster analysis whether different patterns of humor styles could be differentiated and could be thus regrouped into humor types. We z-standardized the humor style scales to facilitate interpretation of findings. These z-scores were entered as grouping variables in a hierarchical cluster analysis with squared Euclidean distance and Ward's algorithm. The three-cluster solution proved to be most stable when running analyses with the whole and the screened sample and to be most compelling in both parsimony and interpretability of the clusters. The first cluster was characterized by an above average amount of all four humor styles ( humor endorsers, N = 134, 43.9 %), the second cluster had below average scores in all humor styles, especially very low self-enhancing humor ( humor deniers, N = 109, 35.7 %), and the third cluster was characterized by slightly above average affiliative humor, highly above average self-enhancing humor, and below average aggressive and self-defeating humor ( self- enhancers, N = 62, 20.3 %). Z-standardized values for each of the three clusters are presented in Table 4 and Figure 1. We validated the three-cluster solution with k-means clustering. In a second cross-validation procedure, we divided the sample at random in two subsamples with approximate 50 % of the cases and conducted additional hierarchical cluster analyses in the subsamples.2 In both subsamples ( n ₁ = 147 and n ₂ = 158), a highly similar three-cluster solution emerged, which also mirrored the cluster results in the total sample. In this solution, the first cluster showed above average levels in all humor styles ( n ₁ = 52 and n ₂ = 82), a second cluster showed below average levels in all humor styles ( n ₁ = 57 and n ₂ = 52) and a third cluster showed slightly above average affiliative humor, highly above average self-enhancing humor and below average self-defeating and aggressive humor ( n ₁ = 38 and n ₂ = 24). One can fairly conclude by these results that the initial cluster solution proved useful in the cross-validation procedure and we used this solution for further analyses.

Values of HSQ humor styles in the three humor types

We checked for age and gender differences in the three clusters. The clusters did not differ in age of the individuals, F(2, 302) = 2.05, p = .13; nor in gender distribution between clusters, Cramèr's V = .13, p = .09.

Correlates of Humor Types

In a next step, associations between humor styles, self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being were investigated. Zero-order correlations of the humor scales, self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being are presented in Table 3. Whereas affiliative and self-enhancing humor were highly positively correlated with self-regulatory strategies, life satisfaction, and well-being, aggressive humor showed null correlations with all measures but a small negative correlation with flexible goal adjustment. Also, self-defeating humor was not related with flexible goal adjustment and life satisfaction.

Finally, to examine associations of humor clusters, the so called humor types, with the well-being variables, self- esteem, tenacious goal pursuit, flexible goal adjustment, and life satisfaction were tested for mean differences between the three clusters (see Ferring et al. 2009, for an example using a comparable methodological approach). We performed univariate analyses of variance (ANOVAs) for each dependent variable (DV), with apportionment of α = .01. Post hoc tests were carried out; presented here are results of the Bonferroni test that corrects error probability for the number of compared groups. Since the DVs assess related constructs with significantly overlapping variance (see correlations in Table 2), for the post hoc tests alpha was also set to .01. For self- esteem, tenacious goal pursuit, and flexible goal adjustment, homogeneity of error variances was given. Since error variances for life satisfaction were unequal (Levene's Test, p < .05), a robust Welch test was performed. This test does not require variance homogeneity. Since there were no differences in error probabilities between ANOVA and Welch test, only the results of the ANOVAs are presented here. To test for cluster differences in life satisfaction, the post hoc test Tamhane's T2 test was carried out, which also does not require variance homogeneity. The results concerning self-esteem, self-regulatory strategies, and life satisfaction will be presented separately.

We found significant group differences in self- esteem, F(2, 302) = 15.75, p < .001. Self-enhancers and endorsers as well as self-enhancers and humor deniers types differed significantly (both p values < .01), in the sense that endorsers had an average score on self-esteem, humor deniers a below average score, and self-enhancers an above average score. The difference between humor endorsers and humor deniers did not quite reach significance ( p = .01). Humor types also showed differences on tenacious goal pursuit, F(2, 302) = 8.42, p < .001. Only humor deniers and self-enhancers differed significantly ( p < .01), whereas the other comparisons did not reach significance ( p = .04). Like on self-esteem, endorsers had average scores, humor deniers below average, and self-enhancers above average on tenacious goal pursuit. Considering flexible goal adjustment, humor types differed significantly, F(2, 302) = 18.26, p < .001. While humor endorsers and self-enhancers did not show differences in flexible goal adjustment ( p = .63), the other comparisons were significant ( p < .001): Humor deniers scored below average, humor endorsers on average, and self-enhancers had the highest values on flexible goal adjustment. Lastly, considering life satisfaction, humor types differed significantly in amount of life satisfaction, F(2, 302) = 11.53, p < .001. In particular, humor deniers and humor endorsers as well as self-enhancers differed significantly (both p values < .01), whereas humor endorsers and self-enhancers did not differ in amount of life satisfaction ( p = .20). The z-standardized values of the DVs self- esteem, tenacious goal pursuit, flexible goal adjustment, and life satisfaction for each cluster are presented in Table 5 and plotted in Fig. 2.

Correlates of humor types with self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem and well-being

In an attempt to quantify the effect sizes of variance in the well-being measures explained by the humor types compared with humor styles, we calculated R from several ANOVAs with humor type (presented above) and the dichotomized humor scales, respectively, as factors. As Table 6 shows, aside from self-enhancing humor (low versus high) explaining a larger amount of variance in flexible goal adjustment than humor type ( R = 0.089 compared to R = 0.054); all other comparisons show a larger effect size of the associations of humor type with the well-being measures compared to humor styles, showing thus an advantage of investigating humor types instead of single humor scales.

Discussion

Factor Structure of the HSQ and Equivalence of the German and the Original HSQ

Firstly, to ensure validity of the findings gained with the HSQ in a German sample, findings of Martin et al. ( 2003) concerning the factor structure of the Humor Styles Questionnaire were compared and replicated in an age-heterogeneous sample in adolescence, and young and middle adulthood.

The adequacy of the German and English version of the HSQ was confirmed with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, showing that fit indices were only slightly different from Martin et al.'s ( 2003) model. One difference emerged in the fact that the self-defeating humor was to a small extent correlated with both affiliative and self-enhancing humor in the German sample, but did not correlate in the original sample. Since the exploratory factor analytic results are highly comparable to earlier studies on the HSQ and the correlations are rather small, it cannot totally be excluded that the different correlation patterns might represent a sample-specific finding. It might even represent method-specific common variance induced by similar wording, although the translation process had been carried out carefully to prevent similar wording. Having ruled out alternative explanations, it might also be the case that the differences in the correlations of the humor styles reflect cultural differences between the original Canadian and the German sample. It has been shown that humor styles differ between cultures, however these investigations drew comparisons between Western and Eastern and Western and Arabic societies, respectively (e.g., Chen and Martin 2007; Kalliny et al. 2006). Therefore, with both studies relying on a sample of individuals of a Western society, one might suggest only small differences between the Canadian and the German sample. A possible explanation is that self-defeating humor is a common way of interaction for younger Germans; it might be a culture-specific expectation in Germany to be able to laugh or make jokes about oneself. Self-defeating humor might thus not necessarily be maladaptive in Germans as suggested by Martin et al. ( 2003). However, to our knowledge, specific differences in humor understanding between Canadians and Germans have not been investigated yet and would desire a qualitative study investigating the meaning and reception of self-defeating humor in both cultures.

Humor Types and Well-Being

To regroup humor styles into the broader constellation of humor styles, namely humor types, a cluster analytic procedure was carried out. We found one type endorsing humor, one type refusing to use humor, and one type using humor to enhance the self. Humor styles were only to a small extent related to well-being. This points to the fact that humor scales are not per se detrimental or beneficial, but have to be investigated within the context of other humor styles and, perhaps, their situational dependency. Humor types were related with well-being measures in a more coherent way and seemed more easy to interpret than the associations of humor styles, which might once again justify the methodological approach used in this study. Nonetheless, the results have to be regared with caution, since the sample was composed to more than two thirds by women and one can thus only carefully draw broad conclusions.

The humor type-well-being relationships shall be described next before drawing further inferences. The first humor type, "humor endorsers", showed across all humor scales high scores (i.e., above average), which characterized a third of the sample (35.7 %). This might reflect cheerfulness and generalized behavior patterns to make jokes, see "the funny side of life" or to not take life too seriously. On the other hand, it might characterize a behavior pattern that uses humor carelessly or without further reflection, to use jokes and funny remarks with means that might even be harmful for oneself or another person. This possible explanation was validated by the analyses of variance: Humor endorsers showed average levels of self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being. Even though the cross-sectional associations must not be interpreted in a causal way, one might infer that high levels of humor endorsers are not especially beneficial for well-being. This finding particularly advances the understanding of earlier mono-dimensional results of relations between humor styles and well-being (e.g., Martin et al. 2003): Despite high levels of self-enhancement, the well-being pattern for endorsers is not particularly adaptive.

The second humor type, "humor deniers", showed below average levels of humor styles, but especially low self-enhancing humor. This pattern reflects a behavior pattern that humor is seldom used to cheer oneself up. The humor deniers showed lowest levels of self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being, implicating that this humor type is not beneficial for well-being either.

Thirdly, the humor type "self-enhancers" was characterized by below average aggressive and self-defeating humor, average affiliative humor, and clearly above average self-enhancing humor. This reflects a humor type that focuses on humor to make oneself feel better even when not in the company of others. Analyses of variance showed impressively that this type might be most adaptive: On all measures of self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being, self-enhancers scored highest. This finding showed that a self-enhancing humor style might be most beneficial for well-being and underlines the adaptive correlates of self-defeating and aggressive humor being absent.

At this point, the findings shall be compared to the original intent to construct beneficial and detrimental humor styles in the HSQ (Martin et al. 2003). It seems noteworthy that the functional distinction between beneficial and detrimental humor is not reflected in the cluster analytic results and we address this issue with three arguments. Firstly, by replicating the factor structure of the HSQ in the German sample, we can fairly rule out the assumption that failures in translation of the questionnaire might have caused these findings. Secondly, these results confirm our initial assumption that humor styles cannot be considered as beneficial or detrimental per se as these might be expressions of different underlying motivational strivings. Thirdly, in conceptualizing humor styles, it has been widely neglected that humor styles are to a certain extent context dependent. It might be opportune to use self-defeating humor in the working context, aggressive humor with friends, and affiliative humor in the family. These assumptions might explain why some individuals, the so-called humor endorsers, apparently use humor in an undifferentiated way-they might just adapt their humor styles according to the context. This conclusion however can only be drawn cautiously, since subjective justifications for using humor or context-dependent variations or stability of the humor styles, respectively, have not been assessed. Further studies should evaluate on the context dependency of humor styles to shed more light to the-apparently complex-associations of humor styles and well-being. In addition, studies not limited by a cross-sectional sample might also investigate the longitudinal associations between humor types and well-being; it might be the case that self-regulatory strategies act as mediators in the humor-well-being relationship. Another open issue for further consideration is the inclusion of indicators of negative well-being, like depression or anxiety, and investigate their associations with humor types.

In a further attempt to clarify the complex associations between humor styles and well-being, it is noteworthy to distance from the functional implications of humor styles, namely, their pre-defined associations with well-being. Instead, we looked into the item contents to elaborate on the structural components of the humor styles.3 First, the items constituting "affiliative humor" deal with the outcome of humorous behavior; humor is presented as a means to "make other people laugh". Also, five of the eight constituting items describe behaviors of affiliative humor being absent (reversely coded) and could-theoretically-be affirmed by persons who are equipped with no humor style whatsoever. Compared with other concepts of humor, the concept of affiliative humor resembles closest to humor as strength of character (Peterson et al. 2005) or as moral value, belonging to the core virtue 'transcendence' (humor as liking to laugh and joke and bringing smiles to other people; Ruch et al. 2010b). Second, items constituting the scale "self-enhancing humor" deal-without exception-with the antecedents of humor, namely a feeling or state of being depressed, sad, alone, or upset. Humor, in this line of reasoning, is described as a means to cope. In sum, both humor styles resemble constructs that have been shown to be positively related with well-being. Third, items constituting the scale "aggressive humor" describe antisocial behaviors like teasing, offending, or criticizing someone with humor to enhance oneself. Again, four of the eight items are negatively formulated and could be affirmed by persons who do not see themselves as humorous persons. Lastly, the scale "self-defeating humor" is constituted by a total of eight items, of which five items describe the means "putting" oneself "down". Also, the outcomes of humor are described, namely, to make people, friends, and family laugh, like or accept the individual, and to keep one's "friends and family in good spirits". Thus, one can fairly say that self-defeating humor shows affiliative, morally valued components. In sum, on a structural level, the humor scales might contain multiple meanings. Consequently, instead of a functional distinction in beneficial and detrimental humor styles, a typological approach investigating humor types proved useful in our study. Thus, the study shows that examinations of bivariate associations considering humor styles and well-being do not show the "full picture" of the multifold associations between these constructs. This was also shown by comparing effect sizes of associations of humor types with well-being measures compared to the associations of humor scales. Aside from one advantage of humor scales (low versus high scores on self-enhancing humor contributing more to flexible goal adjustment than humor type), all other comparisons could be interpreted in favor of using humor types instead of humor scales. However, the importance of this quantification should not be overestimated, since the advantage of using humor types clearly lies in interpreting the contribution of humor styles in the context of the other styles. For instance, self-enhancing humor is present in both endorsers and self-enhancers, but the adaptive value of this humor style is only reflected in the absence of the maladaptive styles.

In addition, it would now be interesting to examine the practical implications of these humor types. With an experimental test, for example by presenting different scenarios in vignettes, one could clarify if humor types differ in their social and self-related responses to these scenarios.4 Another open research question would of course be the longitudinal associations between humor types and well-being, and the attempt to examine if self-enhancing humor is really "beneficial" in the causal sense, or if one or several third variables, for example extraversion, emotional stability, or optimism, cause the associations between self-enhancing humor and well-being.

Age Differences

We did not assume age differences due to the sample in adolescence and young adulthood, although age differences might occur at a later stage in life, when humor styles or humor types might be dependent upon the time horizon of the individual. In line with this reasoning, we did not find any age differences between the clusters. However, Martin et al.'s ( 2003) findings suggest age differences in humor styles. This may be due to the fact that age differences can only be found on the scale level, but not on the cluster level. In fact, on the scale level, a further analysis regarding the whole sample revealed that age was negatively related to affiliative humor ( r = −.30, p < .001) and aggressive humor ( r = −.26, p < .001), but not to the other two humor scales. Also, the participants older than 40 years who had been screened from the sample due to unequal age distribution showed lower aggressive and higher affiliative scores compared to the younger participants. Thus, in general, older participants used humor less to enhance relationships with others or to devaluate others with humor, which is consistent with Martin et al.'s ( 2003) findings. Further studies with a larger older sample should be used to replicate this finding.

Further Considerations

Parallel to our study, Galloway has been investigating the combination of humor styles and their relations to the Big Five traits of personality characteristics. Applying a clustering method similar to our study, Galloway ( 2010) found four clusters with (1) above average scores on all humor styles, (2) below average scores on all humor styles, (3) above average on the positive styles and below average on the negative styles, and (4) above average on the negative styles and below average on the positive styles. In our study, two of the four clusters were comparable to those that had been found in the Australian sample by Galloway ( 2010), namely, the humor endorsers of cluster No. 1 and the humor deniers of cluster No. 2. Also, we found a cluster that showed high self-enhancing humor, average affiliative humor, and below-average negative humor styles. This pattern replicates the cluster solution of Galloway to a large extent. Considering the fact that the samples of the studies were both to a large part university students with a similar mean age, why did our study not totally replicate the findings of Galloway ( 2010)? Letting methodological caveats considering the translated questionnaire in our study aside, we cannot totally rule out cross-cultural differences in interpreting the HSQ items. Concerning methodological arguments however, in our data, a fourth cluster solution was not stable and could not be cross-validated. Therefore, we decided in favor of a three-cluster solution. This solution could both be cross-validated with another clustering method and in two randomly splitted subsamples.

In addition, Galloway ( 2010) examined associations of the four clusters with self-esteem. With the different number of clusters, the results are not totally comparable with our data. However, both studies showed that clusters low on affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles showing below-average self-esteem, whereas clusters high on these styles showing above-average self-esteem. Of the analyses both provided in this and Galloway's ( 2010) contribution, it can be concluded that especially the combination of self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles is related with self-esteem.

Conclusions

In a German sample of young and middle aged adults, we found different humor types of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin et al. 2003) via cluster analysis extending current bivariate approaches to the study of humor and well-being. Humor types were differentially associated with self-regulatory strategies, self-esteem, and well-being. Self-enhancers, characterized by high self-enhancing humor, mean affiliative, low aggressive, and low self-defeating humor showed most favorable associations with quality of life and well-being measures. In sum, these findings gained with a typological approach provide further evidence for self-enhancing humor as important resource for well-being, and especially underline the benefits when self-defeating and aggressive humor are absent.

Notes

1. 1.

Weaknesses of online surveys concern the perception of the online questionnaire as junk mail, as impersonal, or the low response rate (Evans and Mathur 2005). However, those weaknesses were overcome by the distribution of the link to the online questionnaire via personal invitation and by publication in the university newsletter with a remark that questionnaire data were basis for a diploma thesis and only used for scientific purposes.

2. 2.

We thank an anonymous reviewer for the suggestion of cross-validation in subsamples.

3. 3.

We thank Prof. Willibald Ruch for this suggestion.

4. 4.

We would like to thank an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Humor Types Show Different Patterns of Self-Regulation, Self-Esteem, and Well-Being - Journal of Happiness Studies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Humor styles have been found to be associated with well-being, however, no study has addressed the distinct well-being associations of combinations of humor styles, that is, humor types, yet. The present study thus aimed at investigating which combinations of humor styles exist and to which extent these humor types are associated with well-being.

# data[].attributes.headline
Personality, Humor Styles and Happiness: Happy People Have Positive Humor Styles

# data[].attributes.subject
Personality, Humor Styles and Happiness: Happy People Have Positive Humor Styles

# data[].attributes.body
To extend this literature by testing a new hypothesis about a mechanism by which these personality traits relate to happiness.

humor styles, personality, happiness, positive humor styles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Monitoring Editor: Nicholas Kuiper

Abstract

The present study examined the relationships between four personality traits, humor styles, and happiness. Replicating previous research, happiness was positively correlated with four personality traits: extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem, and optimism. Further, happiness positively related to self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles; it related negatively to self-defeating and aggressive humor styles. Thus, happy people habitually engage in positive uses of humor and avoid engaging in negative uses of humor in daily life. We also found support for our hypothesis. People high in extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem, and optimism are happier because they engage in positive humor in daily life.

Keywords: happiness, subjective well-being, personality, humor styles

Jordyn Wieber had this to say after winning a gold medal in the women's gymnastics team competition in the 2012 Summer Olympics: "To have this gold medal around my neck right now is an indescribable feeling. I'm the happiest person right now." It's easy to understand why Jordyn Wieber would be happy after such a monumental achievement, but her happiness after winning an Olympic gold medal is, itself, not evidence that Ms. Wieber is a "happy person." The happiness of "happy people" does not depend on life circumstances. Rather, happy people seem to have personalities that allow them to find happiness even in the midst of adversity and challenging life conditions.

Myers and Diener (1995) identified four personality traits that characterize happy people: extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem and optimism. In the present research, we consider the possibility that people endowed with these personality traits habitually use humor as an adaptive strategy to maintain happiness. We present evidence that the relationship between each of the four "happy personality traits" and happiness is mediated by a self-enhancing humor style.

Happiness and its Personality Correlates

Happiness is a complex construct. It is obvious and unmistakable; people generally know and can readily report whether they are happy or not ( Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999) yet they find it difficult to precisely define ( Freedman, 1978; Lyubomirsky, Tkach, & DiMatteo, 2006). Reflecting the intricacy of happiness, researchers generally define it as a multi-faceted construct, containing both a cognitive component-a subjective appraisal of life satisfaction, and an affective component-the relative preponderance of positive and negative emotions one experiences (e.g., Emmons & Diener, 1985; Lyubomirsky et al., 2006; Myers & Diener, 1995). Happy people, those high in subjective well-being (SWB), report more positive than negative thoughts and feelings about their lives ( Myers & Diener, 1995).

Research on the correlates of happiness has long been guided by a "bottom-up" approach emphasizing the impact of external life events and demographic variables ( Diener, 1984). Consistent with this bottom-up approach, research has shown that desirable life events (e.g., marriage, birth of a child, winning an Olympic gold medal) are associated with positive affect; whereas undesirable life events (e.g., divorce, health problems) are associated with negative affect ( Stallings, Dunham, Gatz, Baker, & Bengtson, 1997). However, it appears that people adapt to positive and negative events, and over time approach previous levels of overall happiness ( Brickman & Campbell, 1971; Headey & Wearing, 1992). In their classic study, for instance, Brickman, Coates, and Janoff-Bulman (1978) found that people adapted their level of happiness after even an extremely positive life event-winning the lottery-or an extremely negative life event -becoming paralyzed (see also Silver, 1982; Suh, Diener, & Fujita, 1996).

Similarly, demographic variables and quality of life indices (e.g., sex, race, age, education level, marital status, religious faith, income) appear to have only a modest relation with long-term reports of life satisfaction (e.g., Andrews & Withey, 1976; Argyle, 1999; Campbell, Converse, & Rodgers, 1976; Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006). Campbell et al. (1976), for instance, reported that only 17% of the variance in life satisfaction could be explained by 10 demographic variables.

Collectively, these "bottom up" findings highlight the importance of an alternative "top-down" approach ( Diener, 1984) that seeks to explain differences in happiness among people through stable personality traits. A large body of research has accumulated showing that personality traits are perhaps the most important correlates of happiness, explaining more of the total variance in happiness than demographic variables and quality of life indices (e.g., Andrews & Withey, 1976; DeNeve & Cooper, 1998; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Gutiérrez, Jiménez, Hernández, & Puente, 2005).

Myers and Diener (1995) proposed that four personality traits, in particular, are strongly related to happiness: extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem, and optimism. These personality traits are thought to relate to happiness through two different mechanisms ( Lyubomirsky, Tkach, & DiMatteo, 2006; McCrae & Costa, 1991). First, they can function through a temperamental mechanism; they predispose people to feel positive or negative emotions that influence self-reported happiness. Second, they can function through an instrumental mechanism; personality traits predispose people to seek out certain situations or activities, which in turn influence happiness.

Extraversion

Among the four personality traits Myers and Diener (1995) identified, extraversion has received the most attention because it is one of the dimensions of the Five Factor Model of Personality, the predominant psychological paradigm for studying personality (e.g., Gosling & John, 1999; McCrae & Costa, 1999). In studies that group personality traits in terms of the Five Factor Model, extraversion has emerged as a particularly important and consistent correlate of happiness (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1980; Diener & Lucas, 1999; Diener, Sandvik, Pavot, & Fujita, 1992; Gutiérrez et al., 2005; Hayes & Joseph, 2003). Hayes and Joseph (2003), for instance, reported that extraversion and neuroticism were the best predictors of scores on the Oxford Happiness Inventory.

Temperamentally, extraverts may be predisposed to experience positive emotions ( Costa & McCrae, 1980) and experience positive events more intensely than those low in extraversion ( Larsen & Ketelaar, 1989). Instrumentally, extraverts are happier because they have better social skills ( Argyle & Lu, 1990a, 1990b) and experience greater social support ( Lu, Shih, Lin, & Ju, 1997; Lyubomirsky et al., 2006).

Locus of Control

Rotter (1966) described locus of control in terms of people's expectations about the degree to which reinforcement that follows behavior is under internal control (i.e., contingent upon behavior, determined by one's own actions) versus external control (i.e., not contingent upon behavior, determined by outside forces). People with an internal locus of control believe that their behavior causes outcomes that follow; thus they believe they have control over outcomes in most situations. In contrast, people with an external locus of control do not believe in the causal effect of their behavior on outcomes they experience in most situations; they attribute outcomes in most situations to external sources (e.g., luck, chance, fate or other people).

As Myers and Diener (1995) suggested, happy people are more likely to have an internal locus of control ( Cummins & Nistico, 2002; Larson, 1989; Lu et al., 1997; Pannells & Claxton, 2008). Larson (1989) found that people who reported a higher internal locus of control in their daily lives also reported greater happiness. Consistent with this finding, Cummins and Nistico (2002) reviewed nine studies that examined the relationship between internal locus of control and life satisfaction. They reported correlations that ranged from .16 to .57 with an average correlation of .41. They also reported that the relationship between locus of control and happiness increases with age.

Lu et al. (1997) suggested that locus of control has primarily a direct, temperamental relationship with happiness, not mediated by social support like extraversion is. However, it is possible that locus of control has an instrumental link to happiness too. People high in internal locus of control tend to be more creative ( Glover & Sautter, 1976; Pannells & Claxton, 2008). Thus, they may be better able to engage in cognitive strategies to attain happiness. Finally, Argyle (2001) suggested that people attend less to negative life events insofar as they have an internal locus of control.

Self-Esteem

Self-esteem refers to the evaluative aspect of self-knowledge that is concerned with the degree to which people like themselves ( Brown & Marshall, 2006). In other words, self-esteem captures the amount of personal value that individuals place on their self, as whole, or in different domains ( Brown & Marshall, 2006). Self-esteem has been shown to have a strong relation to happiness ( Cummins & Nistico, 2002; Diener, 1984) particularly in individualistic cultures ( Diener & Diener, 1995). In general, people high in self-esteem are happier than those low in self-esteem ( Argyle, 2001; Campbell, 1981; Cheng & Furnham, 2003). In addition, Lyubomirsky et al. (2006) found that self-esteem was positively correlated with optimism, and negatively correlated with hopelessness raising the possibility that self-esteem relates to happiness instrumentally, by predisposing people to view themselves as efficacious and to hold positive expectations about their lives ( Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003).

Optimism

Optimism is a dispositional quality that predisposes people to expect positive outcomes in life ( Scheier & Carver, 1985). Research has shown that optimism is strongly related to overall happiness (e.g., Cummins & Nistico, 2002; Dember & Brooks, 1989) and life satisfaction ( Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996) as well as greater positive affect ( Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000) and less negative affect ( Scheier & Carver, 1992). Optimism appears to relate to happiness instrumentally. When optimists encounter challenges they seem to employ more effective coping strategies, which in turn increases happiness (e.g., Taylor, Kemeny, Aspinwall, Schneider, & Rodriguez, 1992). Aspinwall and Taylor (1992), for instance, found that college freshmen higher in optimism engaged in more active coping strategies; those low in optimism employed more avoidant strategies.

Humor Styles

Historically, researchers have regarded sense of humor has an exclusively adaptive and positive unitary disposition ( Cann, Stilwell, & Taku, 2010). Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir (2003), however, distinguished between four humor styles or ways that people habitually use humor in daily life. Two of the humor styles, affiliative and self-enhancing are positive or beneficial to the self or others; the other two, aggressive and self-defeating are negative or detrimental to the self or others.

Martin et al.'s (2003) model has greatly elucidated the complex and often counter-intuitive relationship between humor and well-being. It has revealed that, depending on how it is used in daily life, humor can positively or negatively relate to a wide variety of manifestations of psychological well-being. See Cann and Collette (2014) and Martin (2007) for reviews.

People who have an affiliative humor style use humor to attain interpersonal or social rewards. They use humor to entertain others in order to enrich the quality of social relationships. People who have a self-enhancing humor style use humor to achieve intrapersonal rewards, that is, to enhance or maintain positive psychological well-being and distance themselves from adversity. They maintain a humorous outlook on life, coping with difficult circumstances by viewing them from a humorous perspective. Thus, self-enhancing humor is closely related to coping sense of humor ( Cann et al., 2010; Martin et al., 2003).

Those with an aggressive humor style use humor, not to make interpersonal relationships more rewarding for the self and others, but rather as a means of criticizing or manipulating others. They tease and ridicule others to demonstrate their superiority over others, without concern for others' well-being ( Martin et al., 2003). Not surprisingly, the aggressive humor style has been shown to be detrimental to interpersonal relationships (e.g., Cann, Zapata, & Davis, 2011; Kuiper, Kirsh, & Leite, 2010). Finally, people who have a self-defeating humor style poke fun at their own weaknesses in order to ingratiate themselves to others. They also use humor as a means to avoid confronting problems and dealing with negative feelings ( Stieger, Formann, & Burger, 2011).

Humor Styles and Happiness

There has been an increasing interest in recent years in the relationship between humor styles and psychological well-being ( Cann & Collette, 2014). Research has consistently shown that happiness is positively related to the two adaptive humor styles and negatively related to the two maladaptive humor styles (e.g., Ford, McCreight, & Richardson, 2014; Martin et al., 2003). Martin et al. (2003), for instance, reported that the Ryff (1989) measure of psychological well-being related positively to affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles and negatively to a self-defeating humor style. Furthermore, Martin et al. noted that anxiety and depression correlated negatively with affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles but positively with self-defeating humor style.

Cann et al. (2010) further demonstrated that the two self-directed humor styles (self-enhancing and self-defeating) are particularly strongly related to happiness. When they regressed measures of subjective well-being onto all four humor styles simultaneously only self-enhancing and self-defeating humor styles significantly predicted well-being. Similarly, Cann and Collette (2014) reported that among the four humor styles, only self-enhancing humor reliably contributed to stable positive affect ratings over a seven-day period.

In addition, researchers have found that positive and negative humor styles relate differently to personality traits associated with happiness. Yue, Hao, and Goldman (2010), for instance, found that affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles correlated positively with optimism, whereas aggressive and self-defeating humor styles correlated negatively with optimism. Similarly, self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor relate positively to self-esteem and judgments of self-competence. Aggressive and self-defeating humor styles, in contrast, are associated with lower self-esteem, and negative judgments of self-competence ( Kuiper, Grimshaw, Leite, & Kirsh, 2004; Lui, 2012; Zeigler-Hill & Besser, 2011).

Finally, the two adaptive humor styles appear to mediate the relationship between personality traits and happiness. Lui (2012) found that the relationship between self-esteem and happiness was mediated by self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles but not by self-defeating or aggressive humor styles. Similarly, in a study of affective styles and happiness, Ford et al. (2014) found that "approach-oriented" people, those scoring high on Carver and White's (1994) Behavioral Activating System (BAS) scale, were happier in part, because they habitually used a self-enhancing humor style in daily life. Thus, it appears that engaging in positive humor styles, perhaps especially a self-enhancing humor style, might be an instrumental strategy by which people attain happiness.

The Present Research

The findings of previous research converge on a consistent and coherent story. Happy people tend to have four personality traits identified by Myers and Diener (1995): extraversion, high self-esteem, optimism, and internal locus of control that function temperamentally and instrumentally in the attainment of happiness. Also, happy people habitually engage in adaptive humor styles, particularly self-enhancing humor.

In the present research, we extend this literature by testing a new hypothesis about a mechanism by which these personality traits relate to happiness. Based on the premise that personality traits relate to happiness instrumentally, through an active pursuit of positive experiences, we hypothesized that the relationship between the four "happy personality traits" and happiness is mediated by positive humor styles. That is, people with the four happy personality traits are happier because they engage in self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor in daily life-they maintain a humorous outlook on life, viewing adversity from a humorous perspective, and they use humor in interpersonal settings to enrich the quality of social relationships.

Method

Participants and Procedure

We distributed a link to our study to 107 male and 87 female residents of the United States through Mechanical Turk (MTurk), an on-line participant pool sponsored by Amazon.com (for more information on data collection through MTurk, see Buhrmester, Kwang, & Gosling, 2011). Participants were paid $0.40 to complete the study. Participants ranged in age from 20 to 67 years, with a mean of 32.59 ( SD = 9.56). The mean age was 30.76 ( SD = 8.15) for males and 34.95 ( SD = 10.71) for females. There were 7 African-Americans, 107 Asians, 8 Hispanics, 2 Native Americans, 66 Whites, and 4 people who indicated their race as "other."

Upon clicking a link to the study, participants accessed the study in Qualtrics. Participants first encountered the following instructions: "You are invited to participate in a study designed to determine how different personality traits are related to one another. For this study, you will complete six different personality surveys and five demographic questions." After providing informed consent, participants completed the following measures of the "happy personality traits": the Extraversion scale from Eysenck and Eysenck's (1975) Personality Questionnaire (EPQ-E), Rotter's (1966) Locus of Control scale (LOC), Rosenberg's (1965) Self-esteem Scale (RSES), and Scheier, Carver, and Bridges' (1994) Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Participants then completed Martin et al.'s (2003) Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), and Hills and Argyle's (2002) Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ).

Results

Descriptive Statistics

displays the correlations among the four happy personality traits, the four humor styles and happiness.

Consistent with previous research, happiness correlated positively with each of the four happy personality traits, and with self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles. Finally, happiness correlated negatively with self-defeating and aggressive humor styles. Also, in keeping with our hypothesis, self-enhancing humor and affiliative correlated positively with each of the four happy personality traits. Thus, people higher in extraversion, internal locus of control, self-esteem and optimism also reported that they habitually use self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor in daily life.

Also, like Cann et al. (2010), we regressed happiness simultaneously on all four humor styles. Unlike Cann et al., however, both self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor emerged as significant predictors of happiness (β = .29, SE = 0.06, t = 4.51, p < .001; β = .31, SE = 0.05, t = 4.62, p < .001 respectively). Thus, both self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor significantly related to happiness when controlling for each of the other humor styles. In contrast, self-defeating and aggressive humor styles did not significantly predict happiness when controlling for the effects of the other humor styles (β = -.12, SE = 0.04, t = 1.65, p = .10; β = -.06, SE = 0.06, t = -0.93, p = .35 respectively).

Mediation Analyses

We conducted a series of four mediation analyses to test our hypothesis that the relationship between the four happy personality traits and happiness is mediated by the four humor styles, with a particular interest in self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor. More specifically, we tested a path model wherein each of the happy personality traits acted as predictor variables, humor style acted as a single mediator, and happiness as the outcome variable. That is, a separate analysis was conducted for each humor style. We evaluated both direct paths between the personality traits and happiness and the indirect paths by which personality traits relate to happiness through humor style. We present the path model in .

Figure 1

We used the PROCESS macro for SPSS to conduct the mediation analysis. This macro uses a bootstrapping procedure to obtain confidence intervals for the indirect effect ( Hayes, 2013), and has been demonstrated to have greater power than the causal steps procedures developed by Baron and Kenny, (e.g., Baron & Kenny, 1986). The bootstrapping procedure tests whether the indirect effect (i.e., the path from the personality traits to happiness through a humor style) is different from zero by providing a 95% confidence interval for the population value of the indirect effect ( Preacher & Hayes, 2004). If zero is not in the 95% confidence interval the indirect effect is significant at p < .05.

Finally, we conducted separate mediation analyses for each of the four personality traits. However, a seeding procedure implemented in the PROCESS macro linked the analyses, ensuring that each bootstrapping process begins with the same random number, in turn causing the confidence intervals between the four models to have the same bounds (see Hayes, 2013, for an extended discussion). Thus, although these analyses were conducted separately in PROCESS, they can be considered as parts of the same larger mediation analysis. In sum, our analysis consists of four models that examine the mediating role of self-enhancing humor, affiliative humor, self-defeating humor and aggressive humor respectively. We present summary statistics for our mediation models in , and further describe analyses for Models 1 and 2 i.

Table 2

As shown in , a very similar pattern of results emerged across the four happy personality traits as predictors of happiness with self-enhancing humor (Model 1) and affiliative humor (Model 2) serving as mediators. Therefore, we describe the findings from both models across each of the four happy personality traits.

Extraversion

The total amount of variance in happiness explained by extraversion and self-enhancing humor in Model 1 was significant, R ² = .38, p < .05. In addition, evidence of mediation emerged; extraversion had a significant positive indirect link with happiness through self-enhancing humor, as the 95% confidence interval did not contain zero. The total amount of variance in happiness explained by extraversion and affiliative humor in Model 2 was significant (but less than Model 1), R ² = .14, p < .05. However, unlike Model 1, affiliative humor did not appear to mediate the relationship between extraversion and happiness. The 95% confidence interval did include zero.

Locus of Control

The total amount of variance in happiness explained by locus of control and self-enhancing humor in Model 1 was significant, R ² = .23, p < .05. In addition, evidence of mediation emerged. Locus of control had a significant positive indirect link with happiness through self-enhancing humor; the 95% confidence interval did not contain zero. The total amount of variance in happiness explained by locus of control and affiliative humor in Model 2 was the same as in Model 1, R ² = .23, p < .05. And, like Model 1, affiliative humor emerged as a significant mediator; the 95% confidence interval did not include zero.

Self-Esteem

Similar results emerged for the two models in which self-esteem predicted happiness. The total amount of variance in happiness explained by self-esteem and self-enhancing humor in Model 1 was significant, R ² = .51, p < .05. And, self-enhancing humor significantly mediated the relationship between self-esteem and happiness; the 95% confidence interval did not contain zero. The findings for Model 2, which included affiliative humor as a mediator were identical to those of Model 1. The total amount of variability in happiness explained by the model was R ² = .51, and affiliative humor emerged as a significant mediator; the 95% confidence intervals did not contain zero.

Optimism

Finally, the total amount of variance in happiness explained by optimism and self-enhancing humor in Model 1 was significant, R ² = .39, p < .05. And, optimism had a significant indirect link with happiness through self-enhancing humor; the 95% confidence interval did not contain zero. Similarly, optimism and affiliative humor in Model 2 explained a significant amount of the variance in happiness, R ² = .38, p < .05. And, like Model 1, affiliative humor emerged as a significant mediator; the 95% confidence interval did not include zero.

Discussion

The results of our study contribute to the findings from several different lines of research. First, bivariate correlations replicate previous findings on the relationship between the happy personality traits identified by Myers and Diener (1995) and happiness. People reported being happy insofar as they were high in extraversion, personal (internal) control, self-esteem and optimism. Second, bivariate correlations replicated research showing that happiness is positively correlated with self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles (e.g., Martin et al., 2003).

Unlike previous research (e.g., Cann & Etzel, 2008), however, we did not find that self-enhancing humor more strongly related to happiness than affiliative humor when examined in a regression equation that simultaneously controlled for the effect of each of the other humor styles. We found that both self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor predicted happiness when controlling for the other humor styles. This discrepancy could be due to differences between studies in the magnitude of the correlation between self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles. In our study, the correlation was relatively modest (r = .21), whereas Cann and Etzel found a much larger correlation (r = .43). Thus, in our study, there appears to have been less conceptual overlap between the two adaptive humor styles. Consequently, when we simultaneously controlled for the effect of each of the other humor styles in a regression analysis, we were better able to detect a unique association between affiliative humor style and happiness.

In addition, the mediation analyses support our hypothesis and contribute to a growing body of research showing that humor styles mediate the relationship between personality and happiness (e.g., Ford et al., 2014; Lui, 2012). Positive humor styles mediated the relationship between each of the four happy personality traits identified by Myers and Diener (1995) and happiness. Consistent with the theory that personality traits relate to happiness instrumentally, our findings suggest that people who are high in extraversion, internal locus of control, optimism, and self-esteem have developed adaptive strategies of using humor in daily life, which in turn help make them happy. They experience greater happiness because they are better at finding strategies to regulate their emotions ( Baumeister et al., 2003), and the habitual use of positive humor is one of those strategies. Happy people may be adept at using positive humor styles as a means by which they frame or appraise life events to form positive, self-affirming views of the self ( Kuiper & McHale, 2009). Indeed, people protect their psychological well-being by using self-enhancing humor as a means of reframing stressors in a more positive, light-hearted way (e.g., Cann & Etzel, 2008; Cann et al., 2010; Martin et al., 2003)

The one surprising exception to this pattern is that affiliative humor did not significantly mediate the relationship between extraversion and happiness. Perhaps the temperamental link between extraversion and happiness is particularly strong (e.g., Argyle & Lu, 1990a; Brebner, Donaldson, Kirby, & Ward, 1995; Costa & McCrae, 1980; Pavot, Diener, & Fujita, 1990), and thus overwhelms or obscures the instrumental influence of mediator variables, especially those that do not have a strong influence.

Collectively, our findings contribute to the broader literature on the relationship between humor styles, personality and well-being (e.g., Besser, Luyten, & Mayes, 2012; Cann, Norman, Welbourne, & Calhoun, 2008; Dozois, Martin, & Bieling, 2009; Kuiper & McHale, 2009; Zeigler-Hill & Besser, 2011). One's personality appears to function as a lens that colors the way people view themselves and social settings. The use of positive or negative forms of humor seems to follow from the valence of that general lens and thus contributes to a positive or negative sense of well-being.

Kuiper and McHale (2009), for instance, found that humor styles mediate the relationship between beliefs about the self and low self-esteem. People who disproportionately focus on their negative attributes are particularly prone to engage in self-defeating humor and thus experience lower self-esteem. In contrast, people who have more positive self-beliefs engage in more affiliative humor, which in turn increases self-esteem and decreases depression. These results make sense in light of the Sociometer Theory of self-esteem ( Leary & Baumeister, 2000), which suggests that self-esteem functions as a gauge of the relational value others hold for you. That is, if others hold you in high regard, and are motivated to include you in their activities, you have high relational value. When individuals perceive that they have high relational value, their feelings of self-worth are bolstered, which results in high self-esteem. Our results also support the sociometer theory. More specifically, self-esteem was positively associated with self-enhancing and affiliative humor, whereas self-esteem was negatively associated with self-defeating and aggressive humor styles. Therefore, positive humor styles may be seen as desirable traits by others, and may function to foster relationships, whereas the negative humor styles may be seen as undesirable, or even offensive.

Additionally, the present findings have potentially interesting implications for future research on the relationship between humor styles and happiness. Like other studies investigating the correlates of humor styles, the present research treated humor styles as a personality variable in a non-experimental, correlational study. The findings of the present research, however, raise the possibility that inducing people to engage in adaptive forms of humor can have positive psychological outcomes. Future research could expand on the present findings by treating humor styles as an independent variable in an experimental design (see Maiolino & Kuiper, 2016; Samson & Gross, 2012) to investigate the effects of engaging in adaptive and maladaptive forms of humor on momentary (rather than trait) expressions of happiness. On the basis of the present findings, we hypothesize that engaging in adaptive forms of humor would enhance momentary happiness (i.e., increase positive affect, decrease negative affect), whereas engaging in maladaptive forms of humor would have the opposite effects.

Limitations

Our study makes a new contribution to our understanding of the relationship between personality traits, humor styles and happiness. It does, however, have limitations. For instance, Kashdan (2004) criticized our measure of happiness, the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire, for being too closely related to self-esteem and extraversion among other personality constructs. This conceptual overlap could inflate correlations between the OHQ and our measures of self-esteem and extraversion, or potentially lead to suppressor effects ( Friedman & Wall, 2005).

Although we agree that the conceptual overlap between the OHQ and personality variables of interest is a problematic, we do not believe that it has compromised the test of our hypothesis. First, Steel, Schmidt, and Shultz (2008) argued that the EPI overlaps less conceptually with positive affect in comparison to Eysenck and Eysenck's (1975) EPQ. Accordingly, the EPI should be less vulnerable to inflated correlations with our measure of happiness. Indeed, the correlation between the EPI and the OHQ in our study was .37. Second, even if the bivariate correlations were inflated, there is no reason to believe that the mediation models testing our hypotheses would be compromised by the problems Kashdan (2004) has raised about the OHQ.

Additionally, it should be noted that this study is correlational in nature, and relies on the use of self-report. Therefore, the data are subject to sources of bias such as social desirability. Furthermore, the internal consistency of some of the scales used was relatively low (e.g., α = .66). Although the low alpha values warrant caution, they could be due, in part, to heterogeneity of the underlying constructs, and the number of items in the measures ( Nunnally & Bernstein, 1994; Tavakol & Dennick, 2011).

Finally, it should be noted that although we tested an underlying process model wherein humor styles mediate the relationship between personality and happiness, other possibilities exist. For example, Cann and Etzel (2008) found that engaging in a self-enhancing humor style increases optimism, hope and happiness, which in turn decreases perceived stress in one's life. Self-enhancing humor seems to foster the development or activation of positive personality qualities that are associated with coping with the stresses of life. As Cann et al. (2010) suggested, it is possible that there are complex connections between stable personality traits, dispositional happiness and psychological responses to life events, and that humor styles play multiple roles in those connections. For instance, humor styles might play a mediating role in the relationship between personality traits and dispositional happiness (e.g., Ford et al., 2014). However, the relationship between humor styles and psychological responses to life events (e.g., stressors) can be mediated by other (instrumental) psychological variables or behaviors.

Conclusion

Personality is an important determinant of one's happiness. As Myers and Diener (1995) stated, happy people tend to be extraverted, and optimistic; they tend to have a sense of locus of control, and high self-esteem. People with these personality traits engage in strategies that are instrumental in producing happiness. The present study reveals that the use of positive forms of humor, self-enhancing humor and affiliative humor, represents one such strategy.

Acknowledgments

The authors have no support to report.

Biographies

Thomas E. Ford is a Professor of Psychology at Western Carolina University. His research interests include the social consequences of disparagement humor, and the relationship between humor and subjective well-being.

Shaun K. Lappi is a M.A. student at Western Carolina University. He received his B.A. in psychology at Western Carolina University in 2014. His research interests focus on the social consequences of sexist humor, and the relationship between humor styles and happiness.

Christopher J. Holden is a doctoral candidate in psychology at Oakland University. He is interested in the connections between self-esteem and personality, and how these individual differences influence romantic relationships.

i Although each of the four mediation analyses were conducted, we chose to exclude the analyses for the aggressive and self-defeating humor styles for the sake parsimony. Furthermore, these humor styles were not found to consistently mediate the relationship between the happy personality traits and happiness. Aggressive humor style partially mediated the relationship between extraversion and happiness, whereas self-defeating humor partially mediated the relationship between self-control and happiness. These results are available from the authors upon request.

The authors have no funding to report.

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

References

Argyle, M. (1999). Causes and correlates of happiness. In D. Kahneman, E. Diener, & N. Schwarz (Eds.), Well-being: The foundations of hedonic psychology (pp. 353-373). New York, NY, USA: Russell Sage Foundation. [Google Scholar]

Besser A., Luyten P., Mayes L. C. (2012). Adult attachment and distress: The mediating role of humor styles. Individual Differences Research, 10, 153-164. [Google Scholar]

Kuiper N. A., Grimshaw M., Leite C., Kirsh G. (2004). Humor is not always the best medicine: Specific components of sense of humor and psychological well-being. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 17(1-2), 135-168. [Google Scholar]

Kuiper N. A., McHale N. (2009). Humor styles as mediators between self-evaluative standards and psychological well-being. The Journal of Psychology, 143(4), 359-376. 10.3200/JRLP.143.4.359-376 [[PubMed] [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Lui K. W. Y. (2012). Humor styles, self-esteem and subjective happiness. Discovery, 1, 21-41. [Google Scholar]

Samson A. C., Gross J. J. (2012). Humour as emotion regulation: The differential consequences of negative versus positive humour. Cognition and Emotion, 26(2), 375-384. 10.1080/02699931.2011.585069 [[PubMed] [CrossRef] Google Scholar]

Tavakol M., Dennick R. (2011). Making sense of Cronbach's alpha. International Journal of Medical Education, 2, 53-55. 10.5116/ijme.4dfb.8dfd [[PubMed] [CrossRef] PMC free article] [Google Scholar]

Yue X. D., Hao X., Goldman G. L. (2010). Humor styles, dispositional optimism, and mental health among undergraduates in Hong Kong and China. Journal of Psychology in Chinese Societies, 11, 81-96. [Google Scholar]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Personality, Humor Styles and Happiness: Happy People Have Positive Humor Styles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Monitoring Editor: Nicholas Kuiper The present study examined the relationships between four personality traits, humor styles, and happiness. Replicating previous research, happiness was positively correlated with four personality traits: extraversion, locus of control, self-esteem, and optimism. Further, happiness positively related to self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles; it related negatively to self-defeating and aggressive humor styles.

# data[].attributes.headline
Examination of humor styles and mental health status of health services students in vocational schools

# data[].attributes.subject
Examination of humor styles and mental health status of health services students in vocational schools

# data[].attributes.body
To determine the humor styles and general mental health of health services students in a vocational school in Turkey.

humor styles, mental health status

Note: Full-text of the study is provided within the link

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Examination of humor styles and mental health status of health services students in vocational schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the humor styles and general mental health of health services students in a vocational school in Turkey. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Turkey in 2013. A total of 354 of health services students from vocational schools agreed to participate in the study.

# data[].attributes.headline
Relations of humor with perceptions of stress

# data[].attributes.subject
Relations of humor with perceptions of stress

# data[].attributes.body
To investigate the associations among styles of humor and ways of coping with stress.

humor styles, perceptions of stress

Note: Cannot find a full-text pdf copy. Kindly comment for a file link.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Humor has cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components but may be conceptualized as a multidimensional personality trait, comprised of both negative and positive dimensions and styles. Sense of humor may influence other evaluations of life, including perception of stress. Analysis of responses from 51 community adults and 131 undergraduates in psychology, nonrepresentative, random samples, indicated that styles of humor were correlated with self-perception of perceived stress; the largest correlations account for less than 50% of the common variance. Results are discussed in terms of their theoretical links to coping literature, potential for therapeutic interventions, and areas for research.

Similar articles

The relation of humor to depression and personality.

Deaner SL, McConatha JT. Deaner SL, et al. Psychol Rep. 1993 Jun;72(3 Pt 1):755-63. doi: 10.2466/pr0.1993.72.3.755. Psychol Rep. 1993. PMID: 8332677

Humor styles as mediators between self-evaluative standards and psychological well-being.

Kuiper NA, McHale N. Kuiper NA, et al. J Psychol. 2009 Jul;143(4):359-76. doi: 10.3200/JRLP.143.4.359-376. J Psychol. 2009. PMID: 19606643

HUMOR STYLES, CREATIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND CREATIVE THINKING IN A HONG KONG SAMPLE.

Yue XD, Hui AN. Yue XD, et al. Psychol Rep. 2015 Dec;117(3):845-55. doi: 10.2466/04.17.PR0.117c28z4. Epub 2015 Nov 23. Psychol Rep. 2015. PMID: 26595303

Humor as a facilitative style in problem-based learning environments for nursing students.

Chauvet S, Hofmeyer A. Chauvet S, et al. Nurse Educ Today. 2007 May;27(4):286-92. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2006.05.008. Epub 2006 Jul 12. Nurse Educ Today. 2007. PMID: 16839647 Review.

Differential effects of self-esteem and interpersonal competence on humor styles.

McCosker B, Moran CC. McCosker B, et al. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2012;5:143-50. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S36967. Epub 2012 Nov 26. Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2012. PMID: 23180973 Free PMC article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
personality inventory / statistics & numerical data

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
national center for biotechnology information

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Relations of humor with perceptions of stress - PubMed

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Humor has cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components but may be conceptualized as a multidimensional personality trait, comprised of both negative and positive dimensions and styles. Sense of humor may influence other evaluations of life, including perception of stress. Analysis of responses fr ...

# data[].attributes.headline
Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well-being among children in Japan

# data[].attributes.subject
Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well-being among children in Japan

# data[].attributes.body
Examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self-defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well-being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent.

humor styles, well-being, children, collectivist culture

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

This study examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self-defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well-being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent. To do so, 500 study participants (250 elementary and 250 junior high school students) were recruited. The participants reported the types of humour, stress responses, and level of well-being that they experienced. After correlation analysis, aggressive humour and playful humour showed a positive correlation with stress responses; in addition, aggressive humour showed a negative correlation with well-being. Self-defeating humour showed a negative correlation with stress responses and a positive correlation with well-being. We also conducted a cluster analysis using the scores for the three types of humour, analysing four groups: "aggressive humourists" (respondents who demonstrated above-average aggressive humour and scored average for all other humours), "nonhumourists" (below-average humour in all areas), "self-deprecating humourists" (above-average self-defeating humour, below-average aggressive humour, and average playful humour), and "multiple humourists" (above-average humour in all areas). Upon comparing the results of stress responses and well-being scores among the four groups, we found that self-deprecating humourists reported the highest level of well-being. These results show that in collectivistic cultures, self-defeating humour may be adaptive.

Humour, Laughter, and Mental Health

Humour is a complex concept. While there is no agreed-upon definition among researchers, Robinson ( 1978) broadly defined humour as "any communication which is perceived by any of the interacting parties as humorous and leads to laughing, smiling or a feeling of amusement" (p. 193). In this century, researchers have endeavoured to identify types of humour which are beneficial or harmful to psychological health and well-being. For instance, Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir ( 2003) developed the "Humor Styles Questionnaire" (HSQ), which classifies humour into four types (viz., affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating). Affiliative humour reflects the tendency of an individual to entertain others through jokes or interesting stories (e.g., "I laugh and joke a lot with my closest friends"). Self-enhancing humour reflects the tendency to maintain a humorous perspective on life and to negotiate stress using humour (e.g., "If I am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humor"). Aggressive humour reflects the tendency to use ridicule, sarcasm, teasing, and the like to criticize or control others (e.g., "If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it"). Finally, self-defeating humour reflects the tendency to use humour which involves sacrificing oneself to gain favour with others (e.g., "I let people laugh at me or have fun at my expense more than I should").

Studies using the HSQ have shown that affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour have negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and negative affect, and have positive correlations with self-esteem, positive affect, and life satisfaction. On the other hand, the indices of self-defeating humour show reverse correlations with affiliative and self-enhancing humour (Frewen, Brinker, Martin, & Dozois, 2008; Kuiper, Grimshaw, Leite, & Kirsh, 2004; Martin et al., 2003). In addition, aggressive humour has been shown to have positive correlations with hostility and aggression (Martin et al., 2003). Given these results, it is believed that affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour are beneficial for psychological health and well-being whereas self-defeating humour and aggressive humour are harmful.

However, most of these findings have been sourced from studies based in the West, where cultures are relatively individualistic; therefore, we must be careful when trying to decide whether these results can be applied to more collectivistic cultures. Tsukawaki, Higuchi, and Fukada ( 2009) developed the "Types of Humor Scale" (THS) in an attempt to evaluate the types of individual humour present in interpersonal communications in Japan, which has a collectivistic culture. The THS evaluates individual differences in humour based on three subscales (Aggressive, Self-Defeating, and Playful) and has shown sufficient internal reliability, αs > .75. The aggressive humour and self-defeating humour of the THS correspond to the respective similarly named elements in the HSQ whereas playful humour corresponds to the affiliative humour of the HSQ. Tsukawaki et al. ( 2009) investigated the relationship between the THS and personality variables for Japanese participants and showed that aggressive humour has a positive correlation with aggression whereas playful humour is positively correlated with altruism and self-acceptance. In addition, interestingly, self-defeating humour was found to have a positive correlation with self-acceptance. Similarly, in a study which used Japanese participants, Tsukawaki, Fukada, and Higuchi ( 2011) examined the influence that the three types of humour, measured by the THS, have on stress response. Results showed that aggressive humour increased anxiety mediated by a decrease in social support whereas both playful and self-defeating humour decreased anxiety mediated by an increase in social support. Such results, which differed from findings in the West, can be interpreted as coming from differences in cultural understanding of perceived self-sacrificing behaviours.

In countries with collectivistic cultures, there are norms which make self-derogative presentation desirable, and this is particularly true in Japan. Self-derogative presentation involves referring to oneself in negative terms and neglecting to refer to one's own strengths (Yoshida, Ura, & Kurokawa, 2004). Self-defeating humour is the act of referring to the negative aspects of oneself with humour, and can be considered a self-derogative presentation strategy. It has been shown that in Japan, those who present themselves in a self-derogatory fashion are positively evaluated by those around them (Yoshida et al., 2004), with this phenomenon occurring as early as elementary school (Yoshida, Kojo, & Kaku, 1982). Furthermore, acting based on values and norms which are viewed as desirable within one's own culture affects not only evaluation from others but also leads the actors themselves to become satisfied with themselves (Cozzarelli & Karafa, 1998; Leary & Baumeister, 2000). In other words, self-defeating humour, which is deemed to be maladaptive in the West, can be seen to be an adaptive form of humour in Japanese culture, in which such behaviour is viewed as desirable.

Studies Concerning Children's Humour

Humour studies to date have primarily targeted adults of university-student age or older, but researchers recently have developed a children's version of the HSQ (Fox, Dean, & Lyford, 2013) and are beginning to investigate the relationship between a child's sense of humour and his or her psychological health and well-being. In studies in which the participants were elementary and junior high school students (Fox et al., 2013; Fox, Hunter, & Jones, 2016), affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour were found to have negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and positive correlations with self-esteem, global self-worth, and social support. Moreover, self-defeating humour was shown to have positive correlations with depression and anxiety and negative correlations with self-esteem and global self-worth. Furthermore, aggressive humour had a positive correlation with anxiety (Fox et al., 2013), with almost the same results found among children as with adults in other studies. However, similar to these previously mentioned adult-based studies, it remains to be seen whether these findings can be applied to children in collectivistic cultures.

As mentioned earlier, people in Japan who present themselves in self-derogatory ways are viewed and evaluated favourably by those around them, even as early as elementary school (Yoshida et al., 1982). For this reason, it is quite possible that self-defeating humour would have a positive effect on the mental health and well-being of Japanese children. Tsukawaki ( 2018) developed the Types of Humour Scale for Children (THS-C), which edited the THS specifically for children and investigated the relationship between three types of humour with school adaptability indices (e.g., relationships with teachers and friends, academic motivation, interest toward school), with Japanese elementary and junior high school students as the subjects. Results showed that although aggressive humour had a negative correlation to relationships with teachers and friends, self-defeating humour conversely had a positive correlation. The study by Tsukawaki ( 2018) did not investigate the relationship with psychological health and well-being directly, but did suggest that self-defeating humour may have a positive impact on these indices. For this reason, a study needs to be conducted to investigate whether the results found using adult samples in collectivist cultures also can be generalized to children.

Views Provided by New Research Based on Cluster Analysis

In recent years, researchers have begun to take individuals' humour combinations into account (Fox et al., 2016; Galloway, 2010; Leist & Müller, 2013). These studies have applied cluster analysis to classify participants into several groups based on individual humour scores; this was done in an attempt to investigate the relationship that humour has with psychological health and well-being. However, with the exception of Fox et al. ( 2016), no studies have applied this analysis to children's humour. Fox et al. ( 2016) conducted a survey of junior high school students, applying the children's version of the HSQ (child HSQ; Fox et al., 2013) and examining psychological health at two points in time: fall (Time 1) and summer (Time 2). The following four groups were identified through clustering the participants in terms of their HSQ scores for each type of humour at Time 1: (a) interpersonal humourists: group displaying above-average aggressive and affiliative humour, with all other forms of humour being below average; (b) self-defeaters: above-average self-defeating humour, with all other forms of humour being below average; (c) humour endorsers: above average for all four forms of humour; and (d) adaptive humourists: above-average affiliative and self-enhancing humour, with all other forms of humour being below average.

When the psychological health of the groups was compared, self-defeaters showed a greater increase in depression-related symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2 when compared to interpersonal humourists and adaptive humourists. However, there was no difference between self-defeaters and humour endorsers. Moreover, adaptive humourists reported lower loneliness than did self-defeaters and humour endorsers whereas there was no difference between the latter two groups. Given these results, the negative effects of self-defeating humour were thought to be offset to some extent when it was used in combination with other forms of humour (Fox et al., 2016). Thus, studies using cluster analysis can help to extend our knowledge of conventional humour.

Purpose and Hypotheses of This Study

As we have been discussing, studies with adult samples conducted in Japan, which has a collectivist culture, have revealed that self-defeating humour had a positive impact on psychological health; however, it is not clear whether such a correlation also can be generalized to children based on current samples. To generalize the results obtained from adults, studies using children as samples need to be conducted. Moreover, in recent years, there have been studies in which new perspectives are incorporated using cluster analysis; only the study by Fox et al. ( 2016) has incorporated children's humour into this analysis, and not with children from a collectivist culture.

Therefore, in this study, we examined the relationship between type of humour and psychological health and well-being among children in Japan. In addition, participants were grouped by cluster analysis based on their humour score, and the relationships between the aforementioned indices were examined. Fox et al. ( 2013), in which child HSQ was developed, suggested that based on a study of elementary and junior high school students, children may develop the capacity for self-defeating humour after reaching 11 years of age. However, subsequent research has demonstrated that this type of humour develops even among elementary school students of at least 8 years of age, and that it is in fact possible to measure it (James & Fox, 2016). Based on these findings, we decided to sample Japanese elementary and junior high school students (aged 9-15 years).

The most commonly used humour scale in previous studies is the HSQ, but whether it is appropriate to use the HSQ to measure humour in collectivistic cultures is a matter of debate. There have been previous attempts to create a Japanese version of the HSQ (Kimura, Tsugawa, & Oka, 2008), but aggressive humour did not demonstrate sufficient internal consistency, α < .60, in this context. A study conducted in Lebanon (which is considered to have a collectivistic culture) among the Lebano Armenian minority attempted to create an Armenian version of the HSQ (Kazarian & Martin, 2006), but overall internal consistency was found to be low, αs < .71, with especially low values reported for aggressive and self-defeating humour, α < .65. Thus, HSQ items developed in Western cultures or other individualistic cultures may not be appropriate for collectivistic cultures. Therefore, we used the THS-C (Tsukawaki, 2018), which consists of three subscales (Aggressive, Self-Defeating, and Playful), to measure humour among Japanese children. Items for the THS-C were developed based on the adult scale (Tsukawaki et al., 2009), with multiple revisions made in collaboration with two elementary school teachers (who also maintained junior high school teaching licenses) to ensure the use of language that can be understood by at least the fourth-grade students of elementary school (aged 9 years).Tsukawaki ( 2018) showed that the α coefficient of each subscale was sufficiently high, αs > .85, in studies of elementary and junior high school students in Japan. In addition, we considered comprehensive stress responses (physical state, depressive-anxious feelings, irritated-angry feelings, helplessness) as indicators of psychological health, and emotional well-being and self-esteem as indicators of well-being.

Based on the findings from past studies using adults, the hypothesis was made that although aggressive humour will show a positive correlation to the stress response index and a negative correlation to the well-being index, both self-defeating and playful humour will show the opposite correlations. Since the cluster analysis was conducted on an exploratory basis, no clear hypothesis could be made; nevertheless, it was expected that groups which could be characterized by their usage of self-defeating and playful humour would report a low stress response or slightly high well-being and, conversely, that groups which could be characterized by their usage of aggressive humour would have a high stress response and low well-being.

Method

Data

For this examination, we used data from the "Survey on Classroom Humour and Children's Adaptation" performed by Tsukawaki ( 2018). Questionnaires were conducted in Japanese among children who agreed to participate in the research. The respondents were recruited by Cross Marketing Co., Ltd. ( https://www.cross-m.co.jp) according to their gender and school year, and resided in the Kanto region of Japan. The breakdown of the 500 respondents is as follows: (a) elementary school: 87 fourth graders (44 boys, 43 girls; M age = 9.60, SD =0.49), 77 fifth graders (38 boys, 39 girls; M age = 10.55, SD =0.50), and 86 sixth graders (43 boys, 43 girls; M age = 11.56, SD =0.49); and (b) junior high school: 83 seventh graders (42 boys, 41 girls; M age = 12.54, SD =0.50), 84 eighth graders (42 boys, 42 girls; M age = 13.52, SD =0.50), and 83 ninth graders (41 boys, 42 girls; M age = 14.51, SD =0.50). Data include not only the children's sense of humour, stress response, and well-being but also various additional variables (e.g., teacher humour, as perceived by the children; class atmosphere; and relationships with teachers). However, only the variables used in this study will be discussed.

Measures

Humour

The THS-C (Tsukawaki, 2018) was used to measure humour. This scale consisting of three subscales: Aggressive (e.g., "I sometimes tease classmates to make other students in the class laugh"), Self-Defeating (e.g., "I sometimes tell funny stories about my struggles to make other students in the class laugh"), and Playful (e.g., "I can make classmates laugh by talking in a funny way"). Each subscale is composed of four items, totalling 12 items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to them using a Likert-type scale of 1 ( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was reported by Tsukawaki ( 2018) to be .87 for Aggressive humour, .85 for Self-Defeating humour, and .87 for Playful humour. We obtained satisfactory values for all grades when calculating internal consistency of each subscale for each school grade (Table 1).

Elementary School

Junior High School

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth

Seventh

Eighth

Ninth

Aggressive humour

.89

.87

.90

.88

.85

.86

Self-defeating humour

.90

.85

.87

.84

.81

.90

Playful humour

.87

.88

.87

.82

.79

.87

Stress responses

The Stress Response Scale for Children (SRS-C; Shimada, Togasaki, & Sakano, 1994) also was applied. This measure consists of four subscales: Physical States (e.g., headaches, feeling sluggish), Depressive-Anxious Feelings (e.g., loneliness, feeling depressed), Irritated/Angry Feelings (e.g., feeling irritable, sullen, or quick to lose temper), and Helplessness (e.g., being unable to give one's best, not feeling motivated). Each subscale consists of five items, totalling 20 items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to them using a Likert-type scale of 1 ( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency for the present study was .88 for Physical States, .93 for Depressive-Anxious Feelings, .92 for Irritated/Angry Feelings, and .92 for Helplessness.

Emotional well-being and self-esteem

We used two subscales (Emotional Well-Being [e.g., "It was fun and I laughed a lot," "I felt lonely" (reverse-scored)] and Self-Esteem (e.g., "I thought I did great," "I felt like I could do anything") from the Japanese version (Shibata et al., 2003) of the Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire (KINDL; Ravens-Sieberer & Bullinger, 1998). Each subscale had four items, and thus a total of eight items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to themselves using a Likert-type scale of 1( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency for the present study was .61 for Emotional Well-Being and .86 for Self-Esteem.

Analysis

First, we tested the THS-C's configural invariance and measurement invariance in elementary and junior high school children using multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM). Next, descriptive statistics and intercorrelations were calculated for the main measures. Then, partial correlation analyses were conducted to find the relationships between the three types of humour and stress responses and well-being; for example, to find the relationship between aggressive humour and stress responses and well-being, playful humour and self-defeating humour were controlled. Last, respondents were grouped according to humour characteristics revealed through hierarchical cluster analysis, and their stress responses and well-being were compared through multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

Results

Configural Invariance and Measurement Invariance of the THS-C

We tested the factor structure of the THS-C (configural invariance) for the two samples (elementary and junior high school) using multigroup SEM. Goodness of fit indicators were all within acceptable ranges, goodness of fit index (GFI) = .911, comparative fit index (CFI) = .947, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .062. Furthermore, we tested its factor loadings (measurement invariance) using multigroup SEM with equality constraints between the two samples on all parameters for all factor-to-item paths with similar success, GFI = .906, CFI = .945, RMSEA = .059. Therefore, we concluded that the measurement of humour would be invariant across the two samples to a certain extent.

Relationship Between Humour and Psychological Health and Well-being

Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations for each variable are shown in Table 2. Because a correlation was seen between three types of humour, a partial correlation analysis was then conducted to clearly examine the relationship of each humour type with stress responses and well-being. Although both depressive-anxious feeling and emotional well-being included items for measuring loneliness, the correlation between these variables was at only a moderate level of r =.68. As a result, it was concluded that although there is a partial overlap, these two concepts can be distinguished from one another.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

M

SD

1. Aggressive humour

-

−.01

1.86

0.65

2. Self-defeating humour

-

.00

.00

.07

-.03

2.33

0.72

3. Playful humour

-

−.02

.07

2.10

0.69

4. Physical state

-

1.68

0.66

5. Depressive-anxious feeling

-

1.53

0.63

6. Irritated-angry feeling

-

.07

1.76

0.76

7. Helplessness

-

−.01

1.78

0.75

8. Emotional well-being

-

3.25

0.52

9. Self-esteem

-

2.03

0.67

For the partial correlation analysis between aggressive humour and stress responses and well-being, playful humour and self-defeating humour were controlled. The same was done for playful humour, controlling aggressive humour and self-defeating humour, and for self-defeating humour, controlling aggressive humour and playful humour. The results are shown in Table 3. Aggressive humour showed positive correlations with all indicators of stress responses and negative correlations with indicators of well-being (emotional well-being and self-esteem). In contrast, with the exception of irritated/angry feelings, self-defeating humour showed negative correlations with all indicators of stress responses and positive correlations with the well-being index. Playful humour showed positive correlations with physical states and helplessness.

Aggressive

Self-Defeating

Playful

SRS-C

KINDL

Note

SRS-C = Stress Response Scale for Children; KINDL = Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire, Japanese version.

*p <.05. **p <.01.

Cluster Analysis

We converted the score of each THS-C subscale into a Z-score and conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis using the furthest neighbour method, based on the Euclidean distance. Referring to a dendrogram, we explored and investigated two- to four-cluster solutions. We finally determined that the four-cluster solution, in which the features of each cluster were the clearest, was the best. Z-scores for each humour type in the four-cluster solution are shown in Figure 1. The first cluster ( n =123) was named aggressive humourists because these respondents showed above-average aggressive humour and scored average for all other kinds of humour. The second cluster ( n =217) was named nonhumourists because these respondents scored below average for all kinds of humour. The third cluster ( n =48) was named self-deprecating humourists because these respondents showed above-average self-defeating humour, below-average aggressive humour, and average playful humour. The fourth cluster ( n =112) was named multiple humourists because these respondents scored above average in all areas of humour.

Group Differences

A MANOVA was performed on six dependent variables associated with stress response (physical states, irritated-angry feeling, depressive-anxious feeling, and helplessness) and well-being (emotional well-being and self-esteem). Independent variables were the four groups identified by cluster analysis. The Wilks's λ was significant, F(18, 1389.24) = 2.44, p <.001, = .03. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each dependent variable was conducted as a follow-up test to the MANOVA. Using the Bonferroni correction, each ANOVA was tested at the .008 level (.05/7). As a result, significant main effects were indicated for emotional well-being, F(3, 496) = 4.93, p =.002, = .029, and self-esteem, F(3, 496) = 4.37, p =.005, = .026. The results of multiple comparisons conducted using the Holm method are shown in Table 4, together with the Ms and SD s of the dependent variables in each group. Self-deprecating humourists also had higher levels of self-esteem than did nonhumourists. Moreover, self-deprecating humourists also had higher levels of emotional well-being than did the other three groups.

Aggressive Humourist

Nonhumourist

Self-Deprecating Humourist

Multiple Humourist

SRS-C

KINDL

Emotional well-being

3.21 a (0.48)

3.23 c (0.53)

3.52 abc (0.48)

3.22 b (0.53)

Self-esteem

2.04 (0.64)

1.93 a (0.62)

2.28 a (0.73)

2.10 (0.73)

Note

Means in a row sharing a subscript are significantly different. SRS-C = Stress Response Scale for Children; KINDL = Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire, Japanese version.

Discussion

This study was the first to use the THS-C to examine the relationship between the types of humour of children in Japan-a country with a collectivistic culture-and their psychological health and well-being. In addition, we grouped participants through cluster analysis using the THS-C subscale scores and then compared their stress responses and well-being scores. It was hypothesized that aggressive humour would show a positive correlation to stress response indices and a negative correlation to well-being indices whereas both self-defeating and playful humour would show an inverse correlation. Although the results for aggressive humour and self-defeating humour did support this hypothesis, those for playful humour did not. The results obtained for each humour type will be considered in more detail later.

From the results of the partial correlation analysis, it was revealed that self-defeating humour has negative correlations with all the psychological health indicators (physical states, depressive-anxious feelings, and helplessness) except for irritated-angry feelings, and positive correlations with all of the well-being indicators (emotional well-being and self-esteem). These results contrast with those of research conducted in individualistic cultures (Fox et al., 2013; Fox et al., 2016; Frewen et al., 2008; Kuiper et al., 2004; Martin et al., 2003), but supports the results of Japanese studies on adults (Tsukawaki et al., 2011; Tsukawaki et al., 2009). As previously mentioned, in countries with collectivistic cultures, there are norms which make self-derogative presentation desirable, and this is particularly true in Japan. Self-defeating humour, which involves talking about one's weaknesses and failures in a humorous manner, is a strategy within self-derogatory presentation and is believed to be a desirable behaviour within Japanese culture. Acting based on values and norms which are viewed as desirable within one's own culture has an effect of inducing feelings of satisfaction in one's state of being (Cozzarelli & Karafa, 1998; Leary & Baumeister, 2000). The results therefore showed that self-defeating humour in Japan is adaptive.

On the other hand, aggressive humour showed positive correlations with all stress response indicators and negative correlations with well-being indicators. In studies conducted in individualistic cultures, aggressive humour has been found to have positive correlations with hostility and aggression (Martin et al., 2003), but many studies have reported that it has no relationship with stress response indicators such as depression and anxiety (Dozois, Martin, & Bieling, 2009; Frewen et al., 2008; Kuiper et al., 2004; Kuiper & McHale, 2009; Martin et al., 2003). The reason for this is thought to be that while aggressive humour may possibly damage relationships, aggressively mocking people or situations which pose a threat to the individual also serves as a method of tempering imminent negative emotions (Martin, 2007). However, because in collectivistic cultures the main determinant of individual well-being is interpersonal relationships (Suh, 2000), as mentioned earlier, in collectivistic cultures like Japan, aggressive humour, which has the potential to damage interpersonal relationships, is considered ill-suited.

Contrary to the expectation, playful humour showed a positive correlation with physical state and helplessness. This result differed from those of Japanese studies with adult subjects (Tsukawaki et al., 2011; Tsukawaki et al., 2009) and Western studies with child subjects (Fox et al., 2013; Fox et al., 2016), and was found for the first time in this study, with Japanese children as subjects. According to Martin ( 2007), in recent years, most educators in the West have been recommending incorporating humour in a school environment, encouraging students to frequently use humour as a part of their self-expression. However, Japan remains cautious about introducing humour within the school. The reason for this can be attributed to parents' and teachers' perceptions that even humour characterized by jokes which do not attack others or self (e.g., playful humour), puns, and wordplay promote boisterousness and frivolity (Yajima, 2013). For this reason, behaviours which excessively utilize playful humour may result in being perceived negatively by teachers, parents, and peers for not adhering to Japanese cultural norms. This, in turn, is believed to have triggered maladaptive results such as poor physical state and a sense of helplessness.

Here, through cluster analysis, four groups (aggressive humourists, nonhumourists, self-deprecating humourists, and multiple humourists) were identified. ANOVA results showed that self-deprecating humourists reported higher levels of self-esteem than did nonhumourists. Furthermore, self-deprecating humourists had higher levels of emotional well-being than did the other three clusters. This result further strengthens the findings of the correlation analysis which indicated that in a collectivistic culture such as Japan, self-defeating humour is adaptive. Moreover, despite their high scores on self-defeating humour, multiple humourists reported lower levels of emotional well-being than did self-deprecating humourists. This result shows that when self-defeating humour is used in conjunction with other forms of humour (aggressive and playful), the adaptive aspect becomes impaired.

This study with children contributed to generalizing the results obtained from an adult-based study which found that in Japan, aggressive humour was harmful to one's psychological health and well-being whereas self-defeating humour was beneficial. In particular, the results, which differed from those in the West, which found that self-defeating humour was harmful to psychological health and well-being, were significant in that they indicated a cultural difference in the relationship between humour types and psychological health and well-being. However, since playful humour saw different results between Japanese adults and children, this type of humour may have a different impact depending on one's age. To examine whether the same result can be recreated, it is necessary to conduct further testing on this aspect using a wider range of psychological health and well-being indices.

For the THS-C, configural invariance and measurement invariance were confirmed via multigroup SEM for elementary and junior high school students, and a satisfactory degree of internal consistency was shown for all school grades studied, suggesting that the THS-C is an effective scale for the measurement of humour in Japanese children of at least 9 years of age. However, concerning humour, respondents may be conscious about those behaviours which are culturally desirable (e.g., self-defeating humour) or not desirable (e.g., aggressive humour). For this reason, the possibility that social desirability is impacting the evaluation to some degree cannot be negated, which is the largest limitation in this study. This issue could be avoided using third-party evaluation of humour. In addition, observations can be used to assign numerical scores to an individual's usage of humour in their everyday life, examining its relationship with the individual's psychological health and well-being. To generalize the results obtained in this study, it is necessary to obtain similar results from studies that use different measurement methods. In the future, clearly identifying types of humours which are beneficial or harmful to one's psychological health and well-being may lead to the development of personal health promotion programs involving training one's humour.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this article.

Acknowledgements

Ryota Tsukawaki designed the study and wrote the initial draft of the article. Tomoya Imura and Yoshiya Furukawa contributed to analysis and interpretation of data, and assisted in the preparation of the article. All other authors contributed to data interpretation and critically reviewed the article. All authors approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Footnote

1 We added factors of humour clusters as well as gender factors to independent variables and performed two-way ANOVAs. Results showed that in each of the six dependent variables, the interaction of humour cluster and gender was not significant, Fs(3, 492) < 0.99, ps>.40.

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self-defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well-being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent. To do so, 500 study participants (250 elementary and 250 junior high school students) were recruited. The participants reported the types of humour, stress responses, and level of well-being that they experienced. After correlation analysis, aggressive humour and playful humour showed a positive correlation with stress responses; in addition, aggressive humour showed a negative correlation with well-being. Self-defeating humour showed a negative correlation with stress responses and a positive correlation with well-being. We also conducted a cluster analysis using the scores for the three types of humour, analysing four groups: "aggressive humourists" (respondents who demonstrated above-average aggressive humour and scored average for all other humours), "nonhumourists" (below-average humour in all areas), "self-deprecating humourists" (above-average self-defeating humour, below-average aggressive humour, and average playful humour), and "multiple humourists" (above-average humour in all areas). Upon comparing the results of stress responses and well-being scores among the four groups, we found that self-deprecating humourists reported the highest level of well-being. These results show that in collectivistic cultures, self-defeating humour may be adaptive.

Humour, Laughter, and Mental Health

Humour is a complex concept. While there is no agreed-upon definition among researchers, Robinson ( 1978) broadly defined humour as "any communication which is perceived by any of the interacting parties as humorous and leads to laughing, smiling or a feeling of amusement" (p. 193). In this century, researchers have endeavoured to identify types of humour which are beneficial or harmful to psychological health and well-being. For instance, Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir ( 2003) developed the "Humor Styles Questionnaire" (HSQ), which classifies humour into four types (viz., affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating). Affiliative humour reflects the tendency of an individual to entertain others through jokes or interesting stories (e.g., "I laugh and joke a lot with my closest friends"). Self-enhancing humour reflects the tendency to maintain a humorous perspective on life and to negotiate stress using humour (e.g., "If I am feeling depressed, I can usually cheer myself up with humor"). Aggressive humour reflects the tendency to use ridicule, sarcasm, teasing, and the like to criticize or control others (e.g., "If someone makes a mistake, I will often tease them about it"). Finally, self-defeating humour reflects the tendency to use humour which involves sacrificing oneself to gain favour with others (e.g., "I let people laugh at me or have fun at my expense more than I should").

Studies using the HSQ have shown that affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour have negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and negative affect, and have positive correlations with self-esteem, positive affect, and life satisfaction. On the other hand, the indices of self-defeating humour show reverse correlations with affiliative and self-enhancing humour (Frewen, Brinker, Martin, & Dozois, 2008; Kuiper, Grimshaw, Leite, & Kirsh, 2004; Martin et al., 2003). In addition, aggressive humour has been shown to have positive correlations with hostility and aggression (Martin et al., 2003). Given these results, it is believed that affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour are beneficial for psychological health and well-being whereas self-defeating humour and aggressive humour are harmful.

However, most of these findings have been sourced from studies based in the West, where cultures are relatively individualistic; therefore, we must be careful when trying to decide whether these results can be applied to more collectivistic cultures. Tsukawaki, Higuchi, and Fukada ( 2009) developed the "Types of Humor Scale" (THS) in an attempt to evaluate the types of individual humour present in interpersonal communications in Japan, which has a collectivistic culture. The THS evaluates individual differences in humour based on three subscales (Aggressive, Self-Defeating, and Playful) and has shown sufficient internal reliability, αs > .75. The aggressive humour and self-defeating humour of the THS correspond to the respective similarly named elements in the HSQ whereas playful humour corresponds to the affiliative humour of the HSQ. Tsukawaki et al. ( 2009) investigated the relationship between the THS and personality variables for Japanese participants and showed that aggressive humour has a positive correlation with aggression whereas playful humour is positively correlated with altruism and self-acceptance. In addition, interestingly, self-defeating humour was found to have a positive correlation with self-acceptance. Similarly, in a study which used Japanese participants, Tsukawaki, Fukada, and Higuchi ( 2011) examined the influence that the three types of humour, measured by the THS, have on stress response. Results showed that aggressive humour increased anxiety mediated by a decrease in social support whereas both playful and self-defeating humour decreased anxiety mediated by an increase in social support. Such results, which differed from findings in the West, can be interpreted as coming from differences in cultural understanding of perceived self-sacrificing behaviours.

In countries with collectivistic cultures, there are norms which make self-derogative presentation desirable, and this is particularly true in Japan. Self-derogative presentation involves referring to oneself in negative terms and neglecting to refer to one's own strengths (Yoshida, Ura, & Kurokawa, 2004). Self-defeating humour is the act of referring to the negative aspects of oneself with humour, and can be considered a self-derogative presentation strategy. It has been shown that in Japan, those who present themselves in a self-derogatory fashion are positively evaluated by those around them (Yoshida et al., 2004), with this phenomenon occurring as early as elementary school (Yoshida, Kojo, & Kaku, 1982). Furthermore, acting based on values and norms which are viewed as desirable within one's own culture affects not only evaluation from others but also leads the actors themselves to become satisfied with themselves (Cozzarelli & Karafa, 1998; Leary & Baumeister, 2000). In other words, self-defeating humour, which is deemed to be maladaptive in the West, can be seen to be an adaptive form of humour in Japanese culture, in which such behaviour is viewed as desirable.

Studies Concerning Children's Humour

Humour studies to date have primarily targeted adults of university-student age or older, but researchers recently have developed a children's version of the HSQ (Fox, Dean, & Lyford, 2013) and are beginning to investigate the relationship between a child's sense of humour and his or her psychological health and well-being. In studies in which the participants were elementary and junior high school students (Fox et al., 2013; Fox, Hunter, & Jones, 2016), affiliative humour and self-enhancing humour were found to have negative correlations with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and positive correlations with self-esteem, global self-worth, and social support. Moreover, self-defeating humour was shown to have positive correlations with depression and anxiety and negative correlations with self-esteem and global self-worth. Furthermore, aggressive humour had a positive correlation with anxiety (Fox et al., 2013), with almost the same results found among children as with adults in other studies. However, similar to these previously mentioned adult-based studies, it remains to be seen whether these findings can be applied to children in collectivistic cultures.

As mentioned earlier, people in Japan who present themselves in self-derogatory ways are viewed and evaluated favourably by those around them, even as early as elementary school (Yoshida et al., 1982). For this reason, it is quite possible that self-defeating humour would have a positive effect on the mental health and well-being of Japanese children. Tsukawaki ( 2018) developed the Types of Humour Scale for Children (THS-C), which edited the THS specifically for children and investigated the relationship between three types of humour with school adaptability indices (e.g., relationships with teachers and friends, academic motivation, interest toward school), with Japanese elementary and junior high school students as the subjects. Results showed that although aggressive humour had a negative correlation to relationships with teachers and friends, self-defeating humour conversely had a positive correlation. The study by Tsukawaki ( 2018) did not investigate the relationship with psychological health and well-being directly, but did suggest that self-defeating humour may have a positive impact on these indices. For this reason, a study needs to be conducted to investigate whether the results found using adult samples in collectivist cultures also can be generalized to children.

Views Provided by New Research Based on Cluster Analysis

In recent years, researchers have begun to take individuals' humour combinations into account (Fox et al., 2016; Galloway, 2010; Leist & Müller, 2013). These studies have applied cluster analysis to classify participants into several groups based on individual humour scores; this was done in an attempt to investigate the relationship that humour has with psychological health and well-being. However, with the exception of Fox et al. ( 2016), no studies have applied this analysis to children's humour. Fox et al. ( 2016) conducted a survey of junior high school students, applying the children's version of the HSQ (child HSQ; Fox et al., 2013) and examining psychological health at two points in time: fall (Time 1) and summer (Time 2). The following four groups were identified through clustering the participants in terms of their HSQ scores for each type of humour at Time 1: (a) interpersonal humourists: group displaying above-average aggressive and affiliative humour, with all other forms of humour being below average; (b) self-defeaters: above-average self-defeating humour, with all other forms of humour being below average; (c) humour endorsers: above average for all four forms of humour; and (d) adaptive humourists: above-average affiliative and self-enhancing humour, with all other forms of humour being below average.

When the psychological health of the groups was compared, self-defeaters showed a greater increase in depression-related symptoms from Time 1 to Time 2 when compared to interpersonal humourists and adaptive humourists. However, there was no difference between self-defeaters and humour endorsers. Moreover, adaptive humourists reported lower loneliness than did self-defeaters and humour endorsers whereas there was no difference between the latter two groups. Given these results, the negative effects of self-defeating humour were thought to be offset to some extent when it was used in combination with other forms of humour (Fox et al., 2016). Thus, studies using cluster analysis can help to extend our knowledge of conventional humour.

Purpose and Hypotheses of This Study

As we have been discussing, studies with adult samples conducted in Japan, which has a collectivist culture, have revealed that self-defeating humour had a positive impact on psychological health; however, it is not clear whether such a correlation also can be generalized to children based on current samples. To generalize the results obtained from adults, studies using children as samples need to be conducted. Moreover, in recent years, there have been studies in which new perspectives are incorporated using cluster analysis; only the study by Fox et al. ( 2016) has incorporated children's humour into this analysis, and not with children from a collectivist culture.

Therefore, in this study, we examined the relationship between type of humour and psychological health and well-being among children in Japan. In addition, participants were grouped by cluster analysis based on their humour score, and the relationships between the aforementioned indices were examined. Fox et al. ( 2013), in which child HSQ was developed, suggested that based on a study of elementary and junior high school students, children may develop the capacity for self-defeating humour after reaching 11 years of age. However, subsequent research has demonstrated that this type of humour develops even among elementary school students of at least 8 years of age, and that it is in fact possible to measure it (James & Fox, 2016). Based on these findings, we decided to sample Japanese elementary and junior high school students (aged 9-15 years).

The most commonly used humour scale in previous studies is the HSQ, but whether it is appropriate to use the HSQ to measure humour in collectivistic cultures is a matter of debate. There have been previous attempts to create a Japanese version of the HSQ (Kimura, Tsugawa, & Oka, 2008), but aggressive humour did not demonstrate sufficient internal consistency, α < .60, in this context. A study conducted in Lebanon (which is considered to have a collectivistic culture) among the Lebano Armenian minority attempted to create an Armenian version of the HSQ (Kazarian & Martin, 2006), but overall internal consistency was found to be low, αs < .71, with especially low values reported for aggressive and self-defeating humour, α < .65. Thus, HSQ items developed in Western cultures or other individualistic cultures may not be appropriate for collectivistic cultures. Therefore, we used the THS-C (Tsukawaki, 2018), which consists of three subscales (Aggressive, Self-Defeating, and Playful), to measure humour among Japanese children. Items for the THS-C were developed based on the adult scale (Tsukawaki et al., 2009), with multiple revisions made in collaboration with two elementary school teachers (who also maintained junior high school teaching licenses) to ensure the use of language that can be understood by at least the fourth-grade students of elementary school (aged 9 years).Tsukawaki ( 2018) showed that the α coefficient of each subscale was sufficiently high, αs > .85, in studies of elementary and junior high school students in Japan. In addition, we considered comprehensive stress responses (physical state, depressive-anxious feelings, irritated-angry feelings, helplessness) as indicators of psychological health, and emotional well-being and self-esteem as indicators of well-being.

Based on the findings from past studies using adults, the hypothesis was made that although aggressive humour will show a positive correlation to the stress response index and a negative correlation to the well-being index, both self-defeating and playful humour will show the opposite correlations. Since the cluster analysis was conducted on an exploratory basis, no clear hypothesis could be made; nevertheless, it was expected that groups which could be characterized by their usage of self-defeating and playful humour would report a low stress response or slightly high well-being and, conversely, that groups which could be characterized by their usage of aggressive humour would have a high stress response and low well-being.

Method

Data

For this examination, we used data from the "Survey on Classroom Humour and Children's Adaptation" performed by Tsukawaki ( 2018). Questionnaires were conducted in Japanese among children who agreed to participate in the research. The respondents were recruited by Cross Marketing Co., Ltd. ( https://www.cross-m.co.jp) according to their gender and school year, and resided in the Kanto region of Japan. The breakdown of the 500 respondents is as follows: (a) elementary school: 87 fourth graders (44 boys, 43 girls; M age = 9.60, SD =0.49), 77 fifth graders (38 boys, 39 girls; M age = 10.55, SD =0.50), and 86 sixth graders (43 boys, 43 girls; M age = 11.56, SD =0.49); and (b) junior high school: 83 seventh graders (42 boys, 41 girls; M age = 12.54, SD =0.50), 84 eighth graders (42 boys, 42 girls; M age = 13.52, SD =0.50), and 83 ninth graders (41 boys, 42 girls; M age = 14.51, SD =0.50). Data include not only the children's sense of humour, stress response, and well-being but also various additional variables (e.g., teacher humour, as perceived by the children; class atmosphere; and relationships with teachers). However, only the variables used in this study will be discussed.

Measures

Humour

The THS-C (Tsukawaki, 2018) was used to measure humour. This scale consisting of three subscales: Aggressive (e.g., "I sometimes tease classmates to make other students in the class laugh"), Self-Defeating (e.g., "I sometimes tell funny stories about my struggles to make other students in the class laugh"), and Playful (e.g., "I can make classmates laugh by talking in a funny way"). Each subscale is composed of four items, totalling 12 items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to them using a Likert-type scale of 1 ( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was reported by Tsukawaki ( 2018) to be .87 for Aggressive humour, .85 for Self-Defeating humour, and .87 for Playful humour. We obtained satisfactory values for all grades when calculating internal consistency of each subscale for each school grade (Table 1).

Elementary School

Junior High School

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth

Seventh

Eighth

Ninth

Aggressive humour

.89

.87

.90

.88

.85

.86

Self-defeating humour

.90

.85

.87

.84

.81

.90

Playful humour

.87

.88

.87

.82

.79

.87

Stress responses

The Stress Response Scale for Children (SRS-C; Shimada, Togasaki, & Sakano, 1994) also was applied. This measure consists of four subscales: Physical States (e.g., headaches, feeling sluggish), Depressive-Anxious Feelings (e.g., loneliness, feeling depressed), Irritated/Angry Feelings (e.g., feeling irritable, sullen, or quick to lose temper), and Helplessness (e.g., being unable to give one's best, not feeling motivated). Each subscale consists of five items, totalling 20 items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to them using a Likert-type scale of 1 ( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency for the present study was .88 for Physical States, .93 for Depressive-Anxious Feelings, .92 for Irritated/Angry Feelings, and .92 for Helplessness.

Emotional well-being and self-esteem

We used two subscales (Emotional Well-Being [e.g., "It was fun and I laughed a lot," "I felt lonely" (reverse-scored)] and Self-Esteem (e.g., "I thought I did great," "I felt like I could do anything") from the Japanese version (Shibata et al., 2003) of the Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire (KINDL; Ravens-Sieberer & Bullinger, 1998). Each subscale had four items, and thus a total of eight items. Respondents evaluated the degree to which each item applied to themselves using a Likert-type scale of 1( not at all) to 4 ( very true). Internal consistency for the present study was .61 for Emotional Well-Being and .86 for Self-Esteem.

Analysis

First, we tested the THS-C's configural invariance and measurement invariance in elementary and junior high school children using multigroup structural equation modelling (SEM). Next, descriptive statistics and intercorrelations were calculated for the main measures. Then, partial correlation analyses were conducted to find the relationships between the three types of humour and stress responses and well-being; for example, to find the relationship between aggressive humour and stress responses and well-being, playful humour and self-defeating humour were controlled. Last, respondents were grouped according to humour characteristics revealed through hierarchical cluster analysis, and their stress responses and well-being were compared through multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).

Results

Configural Invariance and Measurement Invariance of the THS-C

We tested the factor structure of the THS-C (configural invariance) for the two samples (elementary and junior high school) using multigroup SEM. Goodness of fit indicators were all within acceptable ranges, goodness of fit index (GFI) = .911, comparative fit index (CFI) = .947, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = .062. Furthermore, we tested its factor loadings (measurement invariance) using multigroup SEM with equality constraints between the two samples on all parameters for all factor-to-item paths with similar success, GFI = .906, CFI = .945, RMSEA = .059. Therefore, we concluded that the measurement of humour would be invariant across the two samples to a certain extent.

Relationship Between Humour and Psychological Health and Well-being

Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations for each variable are shown in Table 2. Because a correlation was seen between three types of humour, a partial correlation analysis was then conducted to clearly examine the relationship of each humour type with stress responses and well-being. Although both depressive-anxious feeling and emotional well-being included items for measuring loneliness, the correlation between these variables was at only a moderate level of r =.68. As a result, it was concluded that although there is a partial overlap, these two concepts can be distinguished from one another.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

M

SD

1. Aggressive humour

-

−.01

1.86

0.65

2. Self-defeating humour

-

.00

.00

.07

-.03

2.33

0.72

3. Playful humour

-

−.02

.07

2.10

0.69

4. Physical state

-

1.68

0.66

5. Depressive-anxious feeling

-

1.53

0.63

6. Irritated-angry feeling

-

.07

1.76

0.76

7. Helplessness

-

−.01

1.78

0.75

8. Emotional well-being

-

3.25

0.52

9. Self-esteem

-

2.03

0.67

For the partial correlation analysis between aggressive humour and stress responses and well-being, playful humour and self-defeating humour were controlled. The same was done for playful humour, controlling aggressive humour and self-defeating humour, and for self-defeating humour, controlling aggressive humour and playful humour. The results are shown in Table 3. Aggressive humour showed positive correlations with all indicators of stress responses and negative correlations with indicators of well-being (emotional well-being and self-esteem). In contrast, with the exception of irritated/angry feelings, self-defeating humour showed negative correlations with all indicators of stress responses and positive correlations with the well-being index. Playful humour showed positive correlations with physical states and helplessness.

Aggressive

Self-Defeating

Playful

SRS-C

KINDL

Note

SRS-C = Stress Response Scale for Children; KINDL = Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire, Japanese version.

*p <.05. **p <.01.

Cluster Analysis

We converted the score of each THS-C subscale into a Z-score and conducted a hierarchical cluster analysis using the furthest neighbour method, based on the Euclidean distance. Referring to a dendrogram, we explored and investigated two- to four-cluster solutions. We finally determined that the four-cluster solution, in which the features of each cluster were the clearest, was the best. Z-scores for each humour type in the four-cluster solution are shown in Figure 1. The first cluster ( n =123) was named aggressive humourists because these respondents showed above-average aggressive humour and scored average for all other kinds of humour. The second cluster ( n =217) was named nonhumourists because these respondents scored below average for all kinds of humour. The third cluster ( n =48) was named self-deprecating humourists because these respondents showed above-average self-defeating humour, below-average aggressive humour, and average playful humour. The fourth cluster ( n =112) was named multiple humourists because these respondents scored above average in all areas of humour.

Group Differences

A MANOVA was performed on six dependent variables associated with stress response (physical states, irritated-angry feeling, depressive-anxious feeling, and helplessness) and well-being (emotional well-being and self-esteem). Independent variables were the four groups identified by cluster analysis. The Wilks's λ was significant, F(18, 1389.24) = 2.44, p <.001, = .03. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) for each dependent variable was conducted as a follow-up test to the MANOVA. Using the Bonferroni correction, each ANOVA was tested at the .008 level (.05/7). As a result, significant main effects were indicated for emotional well-being, F(3, 496) = 4.93, p =.002, = .029, and self-esteem, F(3, 496) = 4.37, p =.005, = .026. The results of multiple comparisons conducted using the Holm method are shown in Table 4, together with the Ms and SD s of the dependent variables in each group. Self-deprecating humourists also had higher levels of self-esteem than did nonhumourists. Moreover, self-deprecating humourists also had higher levels of emotional well-being than did the other three groups.

Aggressive Humourist

Nonhumourist

Self-Deprecating Humourist

Multiple Humourist

SRS-C

KINDL

Emotional well-being

3.21 a (0.48)

3.23 c (0.53)

3.52 abc (0.48)

3.22 b (0.53)

Self-esteem

2.04 (0.64)

1.93 a (0.62)

2.28 a (0.73)

2.10 (0.73)

Note

Means in a row sharing a subscript are significantly different. SRS-C = Stress Response Scale for Children; KINDL = Children's Quality of Life Questionnaire, Japanese version.

Discussion

This study was the first to use the THS-C to examine the relationship between the types of humour of children in Japan-a country with a collectivistic culture-and their psychological health and well-being. In addition, we grouped participants through cluster analysis using the THS-C subscale scores and then compared their stress responses and well-being scores. It was hypothesized that aggressive humour would show a positive correlation to stress response indices and a negative correlation to well-being indices whereas both self-defeating and playful humour would show an inverse correlation. Although the results for aggressive humour and self-defeating humour did support this hypothesis, those for playful humour did not. The results obtained for each humour type will be considered in more detail later.

From the results of the partial correlation analysis, it was revealed that self-defeating humour has negative correlations with all the psychological health indicators (physical states, depressive-anxious feelings, and helplessness) except for irritated-angry feelings, and positive correlations with all of the well-being indicators (emotional well-being and self-esteem). These results contrast with those of research conducted in individualistic cultures (Fox et al., 2013; Fox et al., 2016; Frewen et al., 2008; Kuiper et al., 2004; Martin et al., 2003), but supports the results of Japanese studies on adults (Tsukawaki et al., 2011; Tsukawaki et al., 2009). As previously mentioned, in countries with collectivistic cultures, there are norms which make self-derogative presentation desirable, and this is particularly true in Japan. Self-defeating humour, which involves talking about one's weaknesses and failures in a humorous manner, is a strategy within self-derogatory presentation and is believed to be a desirable behaviour within Japanese culture. Acting based on values and norms which are viewed as desirable within one's own culture has an effect of inducing feelings of satisfaction in one's state of being (Cozzarelli & Karafa, 1998; Leary & Baumeister, 2000). The results therefore showed that self-defeating humour in Japan is adaptive.

On the other hand, aggressive humour showed positive correlations with all stress response indicators and negative correlations with well-being indicators. In studies conducted in individualistic cultures, aggressive humour has been found to have positive correlations with hostility and aggression (Martin et al., 2003), but many studies have reported that it has no relationship with stress response indicators such as depression and anxiety (Dozois, Martin, & Bieling, 2009; Frewen et al., 2008; Kuiper et al., 2004; Kuiper & McHale, 2009; Martin et al., 2003). The reason for this is thought to be that while aggressive humour may possibly damage relationships, aggressively mocking people or situations which pose a threat to the individual also serves as a method of tempering imminent negative emotions (Martin, 2007). However, because in collectivistic cultures the main determinant of individual well-being is interpersonal relationships (Suh, 2000), as mentioned earlier, in collectivistic cultures like Japan, aggressive humour, which has the potential to damage interpersonal relationships, is considered ill-suited.

Contrary to the expectation, playful humour showed a positive correlation with physical state and helplessness. This result differed from those of Japanese studies with adult subjects (Tsukawaki et al., 2011; Tsukawaki et al., 2009) and Western studies with child subjects (Fox et al., 2013; Fox et al., 2016), and was found for the first time in this study, with Japanese children as subjects. According to Martin ( 2007), in recent years, most educators in the West have been recommending incorporating humour in a school environment, encouraging students to frequently use humour as a part of their self-expression. However, Japan remains cautious about introducing humour within the school. The reason for this can be attributed to parents' and teachers' perceptions that even humour characterized by jokes which do not attack others or self (e.g., playful humour), puns, and wordplay promote boisterousness and frivolity (Yajima, 2013). For this reason, behaviours which excessively utilize playful humour may result in being perceived negatively by teachers, parents, and peers for not adhering to Japanese cultural norms. This, in turn, is believed to have triggered maladaptive results such as poor physical state and a sense of helplessness.

Here, through cluster analysis, four groups (aggressive humourists, nonhumourists, self-deprecating humourists, and multiple humourists) were identified. ANOVA results showed that self-deprecating humourists reported higher levels of self-esteem than did nonhumourists. Furthermore, self-deprecating humourists had higher levels of emotional well-being than did the other three clusters. This result further strengthens the findings of the correlation analysis which indicated that in a collectivistic culture such as Japan, self-defeating humour is adaptive. Moreover, despite their high scores on self-defeating humour, multiple humourists reported lower levels of emotional well-being than did self-deprecating humourists. This result shows that when self-defeating humour is used in conjunction with other forms of humour (aggressive and playful), the adaptive aspect becomes impaired.

This study with children contributed to generalizing the results obtained from an adult-based study which found that in Japan, aggressive humour was harmful to one's psychological health and well-being whereas self-defeating humour was beneficial. In particular, the results, which differed from those in the West, which found that self-defeating humour was harmful to psychological health and well-being, were significant in that they indicated a cultural difference in the relationship between humour types and psychological health and well-being. However, since playful humour saw different results between Japanese adults and children, this type of humour may have a different impact depending on one's age. To examine whether the same result can be recreated, it is necessary to conduct further testing on this aspect using a wider range of psychological health and well-being indices.

For the THS-C, configural invariance and measurement invariance were confirmed via multigroup SEM for elementary and junior high school students, and a satisfactory degree of internal consistency was shown for all school grades studied, suggesting that the THS-C is an effective scale for the measurement of humour in Japanese children of at least 9 years of age. However, concerning humour, respondents may be conscious about those behaviours which are culturally desirable (e.g., self-defeating humour) or not desirable (e.g., aggressive humour). For this reason, the possibility that social desirability is impacting the evaluation to some degree cannot be negated, which is the largest limitation in this study. This issue could be avoided using third-party evaluation of humour. In addition, observations can be used to assign numerical scores to an individual's usage of humour in their everyday life, examining its relationship with the individual's psychological health and well-being. To generalize the results obtained in this study, it is necessary to obtain similar results from studies that use different measurement methods. In the future, clearly identifying types of humours which are beneficial or harmful to one's psychological health and well-being may lead to the development of personal health promotion programs involving training one's humour.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest directly relevant to the content of this article.

Acknowledgements

Ryota Tsukawaki designed the study and wrote the initial draft of the article. Tomoya Imura and Yoshiya Furukawa contributed to analysis and interpretation of data, and assisted in the preparation of the article. All other authors contributed to data interpretation and critically reviewed the article. All authors approved the final version and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Footnote

1 We added factors of humour clusters as well as gender factors to independent variables and performed two-way ANOVAs. Results showed that in each of the six dependent variables, the interaction of humour cluster and gender was not significant, Fs(3, 492) < 0.99, ps>.40.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well‐being among children in Japan

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This study examined the relationship between three types of children's humour (aggressive, self-defeating, and playful) and the children's stress response and well-being in the Japanese context, where a collectivistic culture is prevalent. To do so, 500 study participants (250 elementary and 250 junior high school students) were recruited.

# data[].attributes.headline
Academic stress and coping mechanism among students: An Indian perspective

# data[].attributes.subject
Academic stress and coping mechanism among students: An Indian perspective

# data[].attributes.body
To create awareness and minimize the vulnerable behavior of students. It is also to prevent children and parents from psychological problems which they face due

to heavy competition being posed to them by the society. In addition, to create awareness about early identification as a preventive measure.

academic stress, coping mechanism

# data[].attributes.headline
Does the Relation Between Humor Styles and Subjective Well-Being Vary Across Culture and Age? A Meta-Analysis

# data[].attributes.subject
Does the Relation Between Humor Styles and Subjective Well-Being Vary Across Culture and Age? A Meta-Analysis

# data[].attributes.body
To expand on the relationship between humor styles and mental health by emphasizing subjective well-being (SWB), and exploring the moderating effects of culture and age.

humor styles, subjective well-being

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Department of Organization and Human Resources Management, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China

Division of Psychology, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom

School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences and Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, China

Department of Human Resource and Organizational Behavior, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing, China

An earlier review ( Schneider et al., 2018) examined the connection between humor styles and mental health. The present article supplements and extends Schneider et al.'s review by surveying a broader concept, subjective well-being (SWB), and investigating the moderating effects of culture and age. To this end, we collected data from 85 studies, with 27,562 participants of varying ages and cultures. Meta-analysis results indicate that affiliative and self-enhancing humor enhances SWB, whereas aggressive and self-defeating humor damages SWB. Culture and age do not moderate the relation between humor styles and SWB. We discuss implications for better understanding of the relationships among culture, age, humor, and SWB.

The past decades have witnessed a burgeoning interest in the study of the psychology of humor ( Martin and Ford, 2018). Psychologists tend to view humor as a positive, desirable enhancement to subjective well-being (SWB), which is commonly assessed along the lines of satisfaction, happiness, or quality of life. For example, past research suggests that humor relieves stress, tension, anxiety, and depression (e.g., Abe, 1994; Kuiper and Martin, 1998; Lefcourt, 2001; Nezlek and Derks, 2001; Martin and Ford, 2018). Studies also show humor is associated with optimism, autonomy, positive self-concepts, good social relationships, positive affect, and life satisfaction (e.g., Kuiper and Martin, 1993, 1998; Kuiper and Olinger, 1998; Parrish and Quinn, 1999; Lefcourt, 2001; Nezlek and Derks, 2001; Abel, 2002; Yip and Martin, 2006; Martin and Ford, 2018).

However, empirical findings in some studies do not support the positive relation between humor and SWB. For example, humor was not found to be significantly associated with self-acceptance, positive interpersonal relationships, autonomy, environmental mastery, and purpose in life ( Svebak, 1974; Lefcourt and Martin, 1986; Ryff, 1989; Nezlek and Derks, 2001).

One reason explaining these mixed findings might be that previous research failed to differentiate between potentially beneficial and detrimental styles of humor. Humor styles represent the ways individuals use humor as a strategy for coping as well as shifting their perspectives ( Dozois et al., 2009). In other words, different humor styles may play constructive or destructive roles in one's mental health. Martin et al. (2003) differentiated four humor styles: (a) self-enhancing humor is used to augment oneself; (b) affiliative humor is used to maintain and enhance interpersonal relationships; (c) aggressive humor is used to enhance oneself at the expense of others; (d) self-defeating humor is used for self-deprecation or self-disparagement. Among the four humor styles, self-enhancing, and affiliative humor styles are commonly regarded as adaptive humor styles, whereas aggressive and self-defeating humor styles are treated as maladaptive humor styles ( Dozois et al., 2009). More importantly, these humor styles are found in Eastern and Western cultures, suggesting a cross-cultural universality ( Saroglou and Scariot, 2002; Martin et al., 2003; Chen and Martin, 2007; Taher et al., 2008).

Generally speaking, adaptive humor styles (i.e., affiliative and self-enhancing) are positively associated with SWB, whereas maladaptive humor styles (i.e., aggressive and self-defeating) are negatively associated with SWB (e.g., Martin et al., 2003; Kuiper et al., 2004). To be specific, affiliative humor promotes adjustment, relieves anxiety, and counters depression (e.g., Chen and Martin, 2007; Frewen et al., 2008), whereas self-enhancing humor promotes optimism and self-esteem and deactivates depression ( Chen and Martin, 2007; Dozois et al., 2009; Martin and Ford, 2018). In contrast, aggressive humor is associated with lower self-esteem, higher loneliness, and aggression (e.g., Martin et al., 2003; Kuiper et al., 2004; Kazarian and Martin, 2006; Cann et al., 2008), whereas self-defeating humor is associated with higher depression and anxiety (e.g., Martin et al., 2003; Chen and Martin, 2007; Cann et al., 2008; Martin and Ford, 2018).

The above associations were mainly verified in Western cultures; nonetheless, despite the universality of the four humor styles, people from different cultures react differently to each. For example, because Chinese culture stresses harmony and peace, Chinese students tend to use aggressive humor less often as a coping strategy in comparison with Canadian students ( Chen and Martin, 2007). Hong Kong has experienced weaker collectivism influences than mainland China. A comparison of students from mainland China and Hong Kong showed that Hong Kong students tend toward aggressive and self-defeating humor and away from affiliative and self-enhancing humor ( Yue et al., 2014b, 2016b). A study of cross-countries samples found that individuals from horizontal collectivist cultures are more likely to use affiliative humor to foster interdependence; individuals from vertical collectivist cultures are more likely to use self-defeating humor for the sake of the group; and individuals from vertical individualist cultures are more likely to use aggressive humor to enhance their hierarchical status ( Kazarian and Martin, 2004). In short, it seems that people from Western culture are apt to use self-defeating and aggressive humor, whereas people from Eastern culture tend to embrace self-enhancing and affiliative humor (e.g., Abe, 1994; Nevo et al., 2001; Chen and Martin, 2005, 2007; Liao and Chang, 2006; Yue, 2011).

Thus, the imperative question arises of whether the humor-SWB relationship found primarily in Western culture still holds in Eastern culture. To address this issue, we first review cultural differences in humor perception and usage.

Humor and SWB in Different Cultures

People from Eastern collectivistic cultures value harmony and peace, treasure doctrine and hierarchy, and emphasize interdependence over independence. Therefore, they diverge from Westerners such that they consider humor to be an undesirable trait and a poor coping strategy (e.g., Chen and Martin, 2007). However, empirical studies concerning humor effects are mixed. On one hand, numerous studies suggest a great similarity between humor effects between the East and the West; that is, like Westerners, Easterners perceive that self-enhancing and affiliative humor contribute to SWB and that aggressive and self-defeating humor damages SWB. For example, Chinese students indicated humor that is affiliative and self-enhancing is positively associated with increased self-esteem, self-compassion, and optimism, as well as with decreased loneliness and distress ( Sun et al., 2009; Cheung and Yue, 2013; Yue et al., 2014b, 2017). Similarly, the use of aggressive and self-defeating humor was positively correlated with loneliness, depression, anxiety, and lowered self-esteem ( Sun et al., 2009; Cheung and Yue, 2013; Yue et al., 2014a, b). Similarly, a study comparing Chinese and Canadian students found no cultural differences in the relationship between humor and SWB ( Chen and Martin, 2007).

On the other hand, recent studies show that Easterners may perceive and use humor differently from Westerners. Specifically, Easterners' attitudes toward humor are not as positive as Westerners' are. For examples, Mainland Chinese students showed no significant difference from American students in explicit attitudes toward humor; however, the former associated humor more frequently with unpleasant adjectives and seriousness with pleasant adjectives on the implicit attitude, but the opposite pattern was found for their American counterparts ( Jiang et al., 2011). Similarly, they do not regard humor as an indicator of creativity in the way Westerners do ( Rudowicz and Yue, 2002; Yue and Hui, 2015; Kellner and Benedek, 2017). More compellingly, they perceive humor as less important and rate themselves as being less humorous than Western counterparts are ( Chen and Martin, 2005). Yue et al. (2016a) asked participants to nominate up to three very funny persons and to identify the occupations of the humorists. Results indicated that compared to Chinese participants, Canadian participants nominated more relatives and friends and their nominees had much broader occupations. Yue et al. (2016a) work suggests that Westerners may expect ordinary people to possess humor, whereas Chinese people usually do not expect comedy from non-professional comedians. Little research has been conducted or published in English or Chinese with respect to the humor effect in Africa, Latin America, and Middle East.

Given the reported considerable differences concerning cultural attitudes toward humor and its association with SWB, it is important to gain better insight into the potential influence of culture.

Age Effects on Humor and SWB Relation

Another issue that lacks consensus in humor psychology is the role of age. There is no consensus on how age influences the humor-SWB relationship. The first problem is that some researchers emphasize age differences. For example, studies show younger individuals are more likely to use aggressive, self-defeating humor as a coping strategy than older individuals are ( Martin et al., 2003; Kazarian and Martin, 2006; Chen and Martin, 2007). However, other research suggests there are no age differences in humor usage (e.g., Tümkaya, 2011; Liu, 2012). In studies involving children and adolescents as samples, researchers have used the adult-standardized Humor Styles Questionnaire to show that humor affects children and adolescents in a way that is similar to adults; that is, adaptive rather than maladaptive humor is positively associated with SWB ( McGhee, 1980; McGhee and Chapman, 1980; Bell et al., 1986; Carson et al., 1986; Erickson and Feldstein, 2007).

Research on age differences in general coping mechanisms may shed light on this inconsistency. McCrae (1989) summarized three competing hypotheses relating to age differences in coping strategies. The regression hypothesis argues that individuals would start to use more defensive (vs. adaptive) coping strategies as they come into the later stage of their lives ( Gutmann, 1974). Hence, a decreasing use of adaptive humor styles and an increasing use of maladaptive humor styles is expected as individuals grow older. However, the growth hypothesis suggests that as individuals grow older, they are more apt to employ adaptive coping strategies ( Vaillant, 1977). The contextual hypothesis asserts that the influence of age on coping strategies depends upon contextual factors, such as different problems people face at different developmental stages (e.g., Folkman and Lazarus, 1980; McCrae, 1984). Therefore, the contextual hypothesis suggests no systematic relationship between age and humor styles usage.

In summary, both theoretical assumptions and empirical findings have shown mixed outcomes. It is worth investigating how age influences the relationships between humor styles and SWB. As a compelling and popular topic in positive psychology, the mechanisms by which humor affects SWB attract much attention ( Kuiper et al., 1992; Kuiper and Martin, 1998; Martin, 2001, 2002; Celso et al., 2003; Zhao et al., 2012). Although humor is universal, it may have varying effects on SWB in different cultures and for individuals at different ages ( Fry, 1994; Martin and Ford, 2018). Thus, we undertook this research primarily to investigate how humor styles and the roles of culture and age are associated with SWB.

The Current Research

Schneider et al. (2018) conducted a meta-analysis of 37 studies involving samples of 12,734 participants. The covered publication period is from 2003 to 2015. In the research, they investigated the association between the four humor styles and mental health, indexed by self-esteem, life satisfaction, optimism, and depression. They found that affiliative and self-enhancing humor styles positively associated with the indices of mental health and self-defeating humor styles negatively associated with the indices of mental health. No significant association was found between aggressive humor style and mental health index. They also found that culture and gender moderate the effects of humor. An aggressive humor style negatively associated with self-esteem and positively associated with depression for Easterners, but not for Westerners. The association between self-enhancing humor style and optimism is quite lower in Asian samples in comparison with North American and European samples. Women were found have a larger affiliative humor style and optimism association, and a smaller affiliative humor style and life satisfaction association in comparison with men ( Schneider et al., 2018). Although Schneider et al. provided evidence of interconnections between humor styles and mental health, it is still necessary to conduct a new meta-analysis for two reasons. First, their work investigated a relative narrow scope of mental health (i.e., self-esteem, life satisfaction, optimism, and depression). However, SWD is a broader concept that includes "both cognitive judgments of one's life satisfaction in addition to affective evaluations of mood and emotions" ( Diener and Lucas, 1999, p. 213). For the most part, categories of SWB can be roughly identified as self-esteem, life satisfaction, optimism, affect, and happiness (e.g., Lucas et al., 1996; DeNeve and Cooper, 1998). However, the indices used to indicate these categories appeared to be inclusive. For example, life satisfaction was indexed with job satisfaction ( Weiss, 2002), and affect was represented by anxiety ( Spielberger et al., 1970), extraversion, neuroticism, and optimism ( Steel et al., 2008). Echoing the notion that SWB is a multifaceted concept, in the current meta-analysis, we investigated the effects of humor styles on SWB with a wider scope. Second, the focus on mental health narrowed down Schneider et al. (2018) range of studies available for selection; thus, the moderating effects (culture in particular) were tested with insufficient sample sizes-the value of k (number of studies) was too small, which may result in significant bias in interpreting the outcomes ( Field and Gillett, 2010).

To sum up, this meta-analysis seeks to address two major questions: (a) Do significant correlations exist between humor styles and SWB, and if so, what is the size of these relations? (b) Do culture and age affect the relations between humor styles and SWB? The present study aims to replicate previous findings with an updated corpus of studies and address the questions stated above. To identify relevant studies examining humor styles and SWB, we searched several databases covering research published from 2003 to 2019. We isolated 85 studies that strictly concern the relationship between humor styles and SWB. Following Hunter and Schmidt (1990), we conducted a meta-analysis to test the relationship between humor and SWB and the moderating roles of culture and age.

Method

Rules for Inclusion in the Meta-Analysis

To identify relevant studies examining humor styles and SWB, we searched several databases covering studies published from 2003 to 2019, including PsycINFO, Google Scholar, and ProQuest (unpublished dissertations). We chose 2003 as our start point because it was then that Martin et al. (2003) developed the Humor Styles Questionnaire.

Recall that self-enhancing and affiliative humor styles are commonly regarded as positive or adaptive, whereas aggressive and self-defeating humor styles are regarded as negative or maladaptive (e.g., Dozois et al., 2009). As an extension, we incorporated positive, negative, adaptive, and maladaptive humor styles into Martin et al.'s four humor styles. In conjunction with our focus on SWB, we used seven key search words: humor, humor styles questionnaire, humor categories, positive humor, negative humor, adaptive humor, and maladaptive humor.

The initial search yielded 69,200 studies. We then reviewed all studies by titles and abstracts, excluding 69,054 irrelevant papers. Thus, we identified 146 published articles, dissertations, and book chapters. We then conducted a full paper sift of each study using the specific criteria described below. Figure 1 displays the flow diagram for the search and inclusion criteria.

Figure 1. Study search and inclusion criteria flow diagram.

First, studies had to report at least one correlation between humor styles and any measure of SWB, or any statistics that can be transformed to correlations. The measures of humor styles and SWB could be administered at the same time or different times. Second, studies had to include assessment of the four humor styles, or any category such as adaptive and maladaptive humor. Those studies investigating the relationship between humor and SWB were still excluded if they did not differentiate humor styles. For example, we excluded some studies that measured sense of humor, humor production, humor tolerance, and importance of humor (e.g., Yue et al., 2016a). Third, study designs could be cross-sectional, experimental, or randomized (or non-randomized) controlled trials. Publications such as case reports, editorial and opinion pieces, and book reviews were not included. In addition, experimental studies without differentiating humor in terms of different types were also excluded. Fourth, due to the limits of our research team, we only included studies written in English or Chinese. Of all the studies selected, Chinese articles comprised only 3.5%.

We obtained 85 valid studies strictly focusing on the relation between humor styles and SWB with different indices. Consistent with our focus, the studies identified affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, self-defeating, positive, negative, adaptive, and maladaptive styles of humor. SWB measures included anxiety, distress, subjective happiness, stress, positive affect, negative affect, depression, optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, school satisfaction, job satisfaction, loneliness, extraversion, neuroticism, flourishing, and so forth. The measurements are highly consistent with categories identified previously (e.g., Lucas et al., 1996; DeNeve and Cooper, 1998; Connolly and Viswesvaran, 2000; Thoresen et al., 2003). As a result, we recorded 1,216 effect sizes regarding the relationship between humor styles and SWB. Many shared the same sample size in a single study, so we followed Hunter and Schmidt (2004) suggestion to aggregate them to avoid inflating the sample size. Two research assistants independently coded humor styles as adaptive or maladaptive and coded SWB as positive or negative. The interrater reliability was 1 for humor styles and 1 for SWB. Thus, within each study, we created 2 humor styles (adaptive vs. maladaptive) × 2 SWB (positive vs. negative) relationships with one effect size for each relationship. These four associations were analyzed separately.

Meta-Analytic Procedure

Following Hunter and Schmidt (1990), we corrected observed correlations for sampling error. In addition to reporting the estimates of the mean true score correlations, we also reported variability in the correlations. Variability was indexed by both 95% credibility intervals and 95% confidence intervals around the estimated population correlations. Credibility intervals estimate the variability of individual correlations across studies, whereas confidence intervals estimate the variability around the estimated mean correlation.

We investigated two moderators: age and culture. We divided age into four levels to see whether the effects of humor styles on SWB are influenced by different developmental stages: childhood (6-12 years old), adolescence (12-18 years old), young adulthood (18-22 years old), and adulthood (older than 22). We observed cultures and ethnic regions including China, the United States, Canada, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Japan, and South Africa. The two research assistants and the first author coded the countries as being typically Western (−1), typically Eastern (1), or "other" (0) if they failed to categorize a culture into either Western or Eastern, such as Turkey and Israel. The interrater reliability was 1 for culture.

Results

Table 1 shows the results of the meta-analyses relating humor styles to SWB. Adaptive humor was positively correlated with the positive facet of SWB (ρ = 0.227) and negatively associated with the negative facet of SWB (ρ = −0.124). The Kendall's tau tests results were τ( N = 63) = −0.04, p = 0.64 and τ( N = 59) = 0.14, p = 0.13, respectively, indicating non-significant publication bias. The funnel plots of publication bias test are displayed in Figures 2A,B for relations between adaptive humor and the positive facet of SWB and adaptive humor and the negative facet of SWB, respectively. In contrast, maladaptive humor was positively correlated with the negative facet of SWB (ρ = 0.181) and negatively correlated with the positive facet of SWB (ρ = −0.160). The Kendall's tau tests were τ( N = 56) = 0.08, p = 0.37 and τ( N = 59) = 0.02, p = 0.82, respectively, indicating non-significant publication bias. The funnel plots of publication bias test are presented in Figures 2C,D for maladaptive humor-negative SWB and maladaptive humor-positive SWB, respectively. Confidence intervals of the four relationships excluded zero, ensuring confidence that the average correlations are distinguishable from zero. However, the 95% credibility interval included zero for all four relationships, indicating that humor styles have varying relationships with SWB across studies. Sampling error, sample correlation, and population correlation explained only a small percentage of the variability in the correlations across studies. Across the four associations, only 13.71% of the variability in the correlations was explained.

Table 1. Meta-analysis of the relationship of humor styles to SWB.

Figure 2. Funnel plot for publication bias test. (A) The relation between adaptive humor and positive facet of SWB. (B) The relation between adaptive humor and negative facet of SWB. (C) The relation between maladaptive humor and negative facet of SWB. (D) The relation between maladaptive humor and positive facet of SWB.

In addition to studying the relationship between humor styles and SWB, we examined whether the relationship would vary among people of different ages and different cultures. However, age and culture failed to moderate the relationship between humor styles and SWB. Table 2 provides detailed moderation information.

Table 2. Moderation effects of age and culture.

Discussion

The current research aimed to investigate the humor and SWB relationship, as well as the moderating role of culture and age. Along with previous literature (e.g., Kuiper and Martin, 1993, 1998; Kuiper and Olinger, 1998; Lefcourt, 2001; Chen and Martin, 2007; Martin and Ford, 2018), we found that adaptive humor styles benefit whereas maladaptive humor styles undermine SWB. More important, culture did not moderate the relationship between humor styles and psychological well-being. No matter where they are from, people still benefit from adaptive humor and experience maladaptive humor as detrimental. In addition, we found that age did not moderate the humor and SWB relationship either. The assumption that adaptive humor is beneficial and maladaptive humor is detrimental to SWB holds up in the samples of children, adolescents, young adults, and adults.

Relations Between Humor and SWB

Previous research on humor styles and SWB has loosely been conducted, randomly focusing on some aspects of SWB. Consistent with Diener and Lucas (1999) suggestions, SWB incorporates both cognitive judgments of one's life satisfaction and affective evaluations of mood and emotions. In the current research, we included a wider scope of SWB measures, such as anxiety, distress, subjective happiness, stress, positive affect, negative affect, depression, optimism, self-esteem, life satisfaction, school satisfaction, job satisfaction, loneliness, extraversion, neuroticism, flourishing, and so forth. The results provide a systematic view of the humor and SWB relationship, confirming that adaptive humor benefits whereas maladaptive humor undermines SWB.

Culture Effect on the Relation Between Humor and SWB

The results on cultural difference in the relationship between humor styles and SWB are contradictory. For example, Chen and Martin (2007) found that in both the Chinese and Canadian samples, adaptive humor styles were negatively correlated, whereas maladaptive humor styles were positively correlated with the scores of SCL-90. Schneider et al. (2018) meta-analysis found that an aggressive humor style was negatively associated with self-esteem and was positively associated with depression for Easterners, but not for Westerners. Consistent with research on Western samples, we found that adaptive humor styles benefit whereas maladaptive humor styles undermine SWB ( Kuiper and Martin, 1993, 1998; Kuiper and Olinger, 1998; Lefcourt, 2001). However, we did not find the moderating effect of culture on the relationships between humor styles and SWB, though previous research suggests that Easterners' humor perception and usage is different from Westerners' (e.g., Rudowicz and Yue, 2002; Yue, 2010, 2011; Yue et al., 2016a). The absence of culture effect may be due to three reasons: First, compared with Westerners, Easterners have complicated beliefs about humor, which does not simply contradict the beliefs that Westerners hold. For example, Chinese society tends to follow Confucian philosophy, which deems humor degrading and frivolous ( Rudowicz and Yue, 2002; Yue, 2011). In the meantime, Chinese culture also follows Taoist and Buddhist teachings, which highlight the humorous spirit as a witty and harmonious interaction with nature ( Yue, 2010, 2011). The conflicting beliefs might have made Chinese people ambivalent toward humor, disdaining and appreciating humor simultaneously ( Yue, 2011). Moreover, culture is not a static construct and is subject to the influences of many factors ( Greenfield, 1997; Oishi and Graham, 2010; Cai et al., 2019). For example, Inglehart and Oyserman (2004) found that economic growth drives a shift from collectivism to individualism. The dynamic changes of culture make it possible that the results on cultural difference in the relationship between humor styles and SWB are not consistent. How culture as a dynamic process influences the relationship between humor styles and SWB merits future investigations.

Yue (2011) summarized three ambivalent attitudes toward humor among Chinese: First, Chinese value humor but devalue self-humor. He argued that Confucian puritanism and conservatism regards humor as inferior forms of expression. Therefore, to protect their social status, Chinese people tend to be reluctant to express humor. Second, being humorous is not associated with being an orthodox Chinese person. This is also consistent with the doctrine of Confucianism, which assumes humor represents intellectual shallowness and social informality. Thus, the Chinese are less likely to regard humor as an ideal personality trait ( Yue et al., 2016a). Third, the importance of humor varies according to the individual. Given that humor is not an ideal Chinese personality trait, Chinese people tend to believe humor should be left to specialists (e.g., entertainers, comedians) rather than just anyone ( Yue et al., 2016a). Similarly, Jiang et al. (2019) argued that due to dialectic thinking style, Chinese people tend to show contradictory attitudes toward humor that are simultaneously positive and negative. Taken together, such ambivalent belief may lead to mixed findings on a humor effect among Chinese ( Sun et al., 2009; Jiang et al., 2011; Yue et al., 2017), which in turn weakens the moderating role of culture on the relation between humor and SWB.

Second, another reason why we failed to observe a culture effect on the relation between humor style and SWB might be that the number of studies conducted in Eastern culture is relatively small. In this meta-analysis, Eastern culture studies took only a percentage of 23.7-28.8% in all four types of humor and SWB links. Thus, future investigations providing more empirical findings from Eastern culture will be helpful for identifying whether the moderating role of culture exists in the humor and SWB relationship.

Age Effect on the Relation Between Humor and SWB

Past research has provided rather mixed findings regarding how age affects the relation between humor and SWB. Some argue for age differences (e.g., Bell et al., 1986; Erickson and Feldstein, 2007), whereas others disagree ( Führ, 2002), with no consensus (e.g., Feldman et al., 1996; Erickson and Feldstein, 2007). Our meta-analysis seems to be supportive of the contextual hypothesis ( Folkman and Lazarus, 1980; McCrae, 1984) by indicating that individuals at all life stages benefit from adaptive humor and suffer from maladaptive humor. However, we should interpret this finding cautiously. The results that age did not moderate the relation between humor and SWB may be attributed to the way we coded the data. In current research, given parts of the studies did not report age clearly, to obtain a consistent data mode, we coded participants by age into four groups: children (6-12 years old), adolescents (12-18 years old), young adults (18-22 years old), and adults (older than 22). In doing so, we simplified age data as a categorical variable, which might weaken its potential effects on the relation between humor and SWB. In addition, our meta-analysis has unbalanced age distribution (i.e., 3.9% children, 1.6% adolescents, 60.9% young adults, and 33.5% adults), which may also be responsible for the null effect of age. Future research should recruit participants from a wide range of ages or employ longitudinal research design to test how age influences the relation between humor and SWB.

Limitations and Future Directions

Our meta-analysis showed that humor that is affiliative and self-enhancing is positively associated with SWB, whereas humor that is aggressive and self-defeating is negatively associated with SWB. Culture and age do not moderate the relationship. However, future investigation should be aware that our research has some limitations.

First, we could draw no causality conclusions. Most research on humor and SWB is cross-sectional. Our meta-analysis was also unable to provide causal evidence. Humor has implications on SWB, and SWB in turn could affect how one uses humor. To clarify how humor affects SWB, future research should employ well-designed experimental methods to test the humor and SWB relationship.

Second, we coded Western, Eastern, and "other" cultures according to regions and nationalities, which captured cultures by demographic regions (e.g., Chen and Martin, 2007; Yue et al., 2010; Hiranandani and Yue, 2014). However, this index is somewhat inaccurate, especially in the trend toward globalization and cultural mixing ( Cai et al., 2019). Future research should investigate cultural dimensions empirically to better understand how culture affects the relationship between humor and SWB. Moreover, due to the limits of our research team, we focused only on studies published in English and Chinese. Such linguistic scope may weaken our interpretation of cultural differences. Future research should include additional publications in other languages and unpublished dissertations from the under-represented demographic region.

Third, we find that culture and age are not moderators: humor and SWB have similar qualitative relationships for Westerners and Easterners, the young and the old. However, we could not rule out possible quantitative differences. For example, mainland Chinese tend to use more affiliative and less aggressive humor than bicultural Hong Kong students do. Similarly, adaptive humor is more strongly and positively associated with optimism for mainland Chinese students (e.g., Yue et al., 2010, 2014b). In addition, although for people of all ages humor that is affiliative and self-enhancing is beneficial and humor that is aggressive and self-defeating is detrimental, specific humor styles might emerge, and mature during particular developmental stages ( Erickson and Feldstein, 2007). Therefore, it is worth investigating how the relationship between humor and SWB differs quantitatively for people with different cultural backgrounds and ages.

Conclusion

Humor is ubiquitous ( Fry, 1994), but people from various cultural backgrounds may perceive and use humor differently. Nevertheless, humor has consistent relationships with SWB across cultures and ages; that is, humor that is affiliative, and self-enhancing will enhance SWB. In contrast, humor that is aggressive and self-defeating will damage SWB.

Data Availability Statement

The dataset is available on request. Requests to access these datasets should be directed to Feng Jiang, fengjiang0205@gmail.com.

Author Contributions

FJ, SL, and TJ conceptualized the idea. HJ helped to collect the data. FJ and SL analyzed the data. TJ drafted the manuscript. FJ, SL, and HJ reviewed and revised the manuscript. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Funding

This research was supported by grants from the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (71971225) to FJ and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, UIBE [KY19-02] to SL.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

References

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Does the Relation Between Humor Styles and Subjective Well-Being Vary Across Culture and Age? A Meta-Analysis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An earlier review (Schneider et al., 2018) examined the connection between humor styles and mental health. The present article supplements and extends Schneider et al.'s review by surveying a broader concept, subjective well-being (SWB), and investigating the moderating effects of culture and age.

# data[].attributes.headline
Manipulating humor styles: Engaging in self-enhancing humor reduces state anxiety

# data[].attributes.subject
Manipulating humor styles: Engaging in self-enhancing humor reduces state anxiety

# data[].attributes.body
The study assumes the role as a supplementary study to support findings that propose self-enhancing humor as an alleviating variable for anxiety associated with an anticipated stressful event.

humor styles, self-enhancing humor, anxiety in stressful events

# data[].attributes.headline
Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students

# data[].attributes.subject
Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students

# data[].attributes.body
The study examined the frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among Pakistani students.

depression, anxiety, stress, university students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Objective:

The main objective of the present study was to explore the frequency of Depression, anxiety and stress among university students in Sialkot, Pakistan.

Method:

Survey research method was used to collect data from three universities of Sialkot by using simple random sampling technique from 500 university students. The study was conducted at GC Women University, Sialkot in total duration of five months from February 2019 to June 2019. A demographic sheet and DASS-21 (Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale) were used to measure the level of depression, anxiety and stress. Data was scored according to the standard scoring procedure for each subscale and for further analysis frequency distribution method was applied through statistical package for social sciences (SPSS. 21).

Results:

The means of Depression, Anxiety and stress are M=15.08, M=18.24 and M=19.02 respectively. The frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students was found 75%, 88.4% and 84.4% respectively. The findings of the study showed the prevalence of Depression within the range of normal (25%), mild (16%), moderate (35.8%), severe (14.6%) and extremely severe (8.6%). The prevalence of anxiety was found to be in the range of normal (11.6%), mild (4.4%), moderate (19.4%), severe (17.8%) and extremely severe (46.8%). Stress was normal (15.6%), mild (33.8%), moderate (35.4%), severe (13.2%) and extremely severe (2.8%).

Conclusion:

It is concluded that symptoms of anxiety and stress are more prevalent with moderate to extremely severe range than depression in the current sample. These findings suggest urgent need of some preventive measures and interventions to improve the mental health of students.

Keywords: Anxiety, DASS-21, Depression, Stress, Prevalence, Students

INTRODUCTION

Students are a unique group of people who are passing from most critical period of life in which they experience many stressful events. 1 As the education proceed to the higher level the students use to face more stressful events like more tough syllabus, challenging work assignments and projects, residing in hostels such challenges need to be cope affectively. It is the duty of educator to help their students to cope from such stressors which allow them to have a stable mental health. 2 Depression is a multi-problematic disorder that cause heavy burden in society which leads to the impairment of individual, social, interpersonal and occupational functioning. 3 Anxiety is an internalized arousal of fear that may be real or imaginary. Anxiety is an unconscious reaction to depressive tendencies which may turn into severe fear or panic. Moreover, anxious students are also reported to suffer from leaning difficulties and problem solving. The psychological and physical symptoms include shivering of hands and lips, dryness in mouth, frequent urination and restless sleep. 4 Stress is defined as a threat that poses challenge to our well-being. When an organism adaptive capacity does not work accordingly to the demands of environment, results in biological and psychological disturbances. 5 The earlier literature on mental health problems indicated that the students are expected to be well prepared for the future demands, stressors, increased responsibilities in academic as well as social life which leads to mental health problems among university students. This prevalence and frequency are varied across the globe due to various factors. Currently, it is considered that mental health issues are a very crucial public health concern resulting into one third of disability worldwide. 6

A study on Australian university students reported that 53% students suffered from psychological distress. 7 In a sample of university student in Turkey were found to have Depression (27.1%), anxiety (47.1%) and stress (27%) respectively. 8 In addition, 30% undergraduate students in Canada showed psychological issues, 9 41.9% medical students were found to had emotional disorders in Malaysia. 10 Asian counties reported to suffer more from depression, anxiety and stress than the other countries. A study conducted on the medical students in India reported high level of depression, anxiety and stress 51.3%, 66.9%, 53% respectively. 11 Earlier research evidence on DAS among university students in Pakistan suggested high level of prevalence of depression and anxiety.

A study in 2013 reported 7.5% low level of stress, 71.67% moderate level of stress and 20.83% with high level of stress among medical college of Pakistan. 12 In a study on medical students in Wah Pakistan reported as high level of anxiety 47.7% than depression which was 35.1%. 13 The prevalence of depression was found 53.43% among university students in Karachi, Pakistan. Females scored significantly higher level of depression 61% than male students as 38.0% in the sample. 14 Another research conducted on medical students in Islamabad reported high level of prevalence of depression 40.9% and anxiety 74.2% in the sample. 15 Medical students of Nishtar Medical College, Multan were found to have high level of anxiety and depression. 16 Another study on Pakistani medical students concluded that academic stressors play a significant role to inspire learning and building sense of competition in students. But at the same time these stressors can be a reason to feel helplessness and promote anxiety which adversely affects the academic performance of students. 17

There was no earlier evidence investigating the prevalence, frequency and severity levels of depression, anxiety and stress among university students in Sialkot city Pakistan. There are currently three universities in the Sialkot city. Therefore, an attempt was made to investigate the mental health problems among this sample.

METHODS

The sample study was comprised of 500 students ( N=500, Girls=248 & Boys=252) with in the age range between 18 to 24 years. The study was conducted at GC Women University, Sialkot with the ethical approval of the institute (Ref. No.: D/REG/19/2607). The total duration of this research was five months from February, 2019 to June, 2019. The simple random sampling technique was used by selecting a sample of 500 students from one public and two private universities. The data was collected with the permission of concerned authorities of relevant institutions, chosen from the city. Consent forms and demographic sheets were given to students and informed about the objective and their participation in the study. A self-developed demographic sheet was used to collect demographic information. The level of mental health was assessed by using Depression, Anxiety and Stress (DASS-21) scale (short version) among students to collect data. The scale DASS-21 consists of 21 items specifically designed to assess severity level of depression, anxiety and stress. Lovibond, S.H. Lovibond, P.F. had developed this scale in 1995 pertaining good validity and reliability. 18 At first, universities were contacted for the permission for data collection. The sample of 500 students was selected and informed consent was signed by the participants. The participants were explained about the research purpose and its objectives. The demographic sheets, informed consents and (DASS-21) were given to participants and requested them to fill all of them. Scoring was done according to the set criteria for this scale.

The data was analyzed by a computer software SPSS-21. Mean scores of responses of the whole sample on items of (DASS-21) was computed and tabulated. Further the level of disturbance on each sub-scale (normal, mild, moderate, severe, extremely severe) was computed through frequency and percentage method.

RESULTS

The demographic characteristics of current sample is shown in Table-I . There were 50.4% males and 49.6% female adolescents. 23.6% students were from inter, 20% from 1-2 semesters, 28.4% were from 3-4 semester, 14.6% were from 5-6 semester and 13.2% from 7-8 semester. There were 66.6% students who were in the age range of 18 years to 20 years and there were 33.4% students who were in the age range of 21 years to 24 years. 9.8% of the student's mother were working and 90.2% were as housewives. 8.8% student's mothers were illiterate, 14.6% had completed their middle school, 33.4% did matriculation, 18.4% had completed inter level education, 19% were graduated and 5.8% had master's degree. 4.6% of student's fathers were illiterate, 9.6% had completed their middle school, 31.6% did matriculation, 19.2% had completed inter level education, 21.4% were graduates and 13.6% had master's degree.30.2% student's fathers had their own business, 64.4% were doing job and 5.4% were jobless. 41.4% of the students were in private institutions and 58.6% were from government institutions. 99.2% of the students were Muslim and remaining 0.8% were from other religions.

Table-I

Variables

Categories

f

%

Current semester

1 st and 2 nd year

118

23.6

The means, standard deviation and percentage scores for depression, anxiety and stress respectively is shown in Table-II . The findings suggested that overall anxiety is the most prevalent problem with 88.4%. stress= 84.4% is the second most prevalent problem and depression is 75%% in the current sample.

Table-II

Scores of DASS-21 sub-scales

Mean

Standard Deviation

f (%)

Table-III shows highest range with respect to the severity level. As for depression fall in moderate range with ratio of 35.8%, for anxiety the most prevalent range is extremely severe with ratio of 46.8% and stress fall in the moderate range with ratio of 35.4%.

Table-III

DASS-21

Normal

Mild

Moderate

Severe

Extremely Severe

Depression

125 (25%)

80 (16%)

179 (35.8%)

73 (14.6%)

43 (8.6%)

Anxiety

58 (11.6%)

22 (4.4%)

97 (19.4%)

89 (17.8%)

234 (46.8%)

Stress

78 (15.6%)

165 (33%)

177 (35.4%)

66 (13.2%)

14 (2.8%)

DISCUSSION

The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of mental health issues (Depression, anxiety and stress) in the students. The severity level of each problem was also investigated in the current sample. The findings showed the mean of depression, anxiety and stress M=15.08, M=18.25 and M=19.03 respectively. The frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students was found 75%, 88.4% and 84.4% respectively in the current research. These overall frequencies were calculated by adding all the severity categories from mild, moderate, severe and very severe of each of the sub-scale as seen in Table-II . The current findings revealed that the anxiety is the most prevalent issue among the current sample with highest percentage 88.4%. The stress was the second most prevalent problem with 84.4% among university students in Sialkot. The findings suggested considerable level of frequency and severity levels of depression, anxiety and stress as psychological morbidities among the students in Sialkot, Pakistan. The prevalence of Depression with respect to severity was within the range of normal (25%), mild (16%), moderate (35.8%), severe (14.6%) and extremely severe (8.6%) in the current sample. The prevalence of anxiety was found to be in the range of normal (11.6%), mild (4.4%), moderate (19.4%), severe (17.8%) and extremely severe (46.8%). Stress was normal (15.6%), mild (33.8%), moderate (35.4%), severe (13.2%) and extremely severe (2.8%) in current findings. These findings are in line with some earlier reported findings which investigated the mental health among students in Pakistan as well as in some other countries. In contrast, the current investigation was made on the overall university students' population within the city of Sialkot precisely 11, 12, 14, 15.

Mental health issues containing depression, anxiety and stress is been accredited with higher level of morbidities among students around the globe. Therefore, it can be considered a subject of exploration among the researchers who are more interested in the mental health and wellbeing of the student sample. The present research has significant findings highlighting the presence of moderate to severe level psychological morbidities among the students in Sialkot, Pakistan. The response rate of participants was 100% validating the results of this study. These findings of the current study are consistent with some other studies conducted in Pakistan and in other countries. A recently reported result by a study on medical students of Karachi with 72% anxiety. 19 Another study conducted in 2019 in Karachi on the final year of medical students reported higher level of anxiety and stress in private college students and depression was scored higher among the government college students. 20 Another recent evidence on undergraduate students in Pakistan supports the findings of the current study. As the frequency of Depression 75%, anxiety 88.4% and stress 84.4% in current sample is greater than that 48.0% of depression, 68.54% of anxiety and 53.2% of stress respectively among the sample of undergraduate students of physiotherapy in Pakistan. 21 There is one more research in support of the current findings which was conducted on the medical and dentistry students in Pakistan reported high prevalence of these psychological morbidities. The prevalence of anxiety was also highest with 41.9% among these students than the depression and stress. 22

Some of the very recent evidences from other countries are also consistent with the present findings. As a study on Jordanian medical students in 2019 reported that students were suffering from psychological problems. 23 The Prevalence of stress was found as 46.9%, anxiety was 76.2% and depression was 60.2% respectively among medical university students in Malaysia. 24 Another research from Egypt was found consistent with the current findings reported high level of prevalence of stress 62.4%, anxiety 64.3% and depression 60.8% among university students. Anxiety was again the most prevalent problem with highest percentage of 64.3% in the sample here. 25 A study on Indian medical students reported that half of the university students were found d to be affected by the mental health problems. 11

Limitations of the study

While interpreting the results, certain limitations can be kept in mind for consideration. The student's mental health was the focus of interest and thus only depression, anxiety and stress were covered in the present investigation. The rest of the prevalent mental health problems were not examined in the current student population. Secondly, the current research only explored the frequency of these psychological morbidities, the causes of these highly prevalent issues didn't assessed.

CONCLUSION

It is reported by the current findings that more than half of the university students are seriously affected by mental health problems in Sialkot. It is immediately needed to design some preventive measures to promote psychological health for university students in Sialkot, Pakistan. In order to create a better learning environment and smooth functioning, it is urgently needed to focus and promote the mental health of students during their academic burden.

Authors' Contribution

SA conceived, designed, statistical analysis, revision, final approval of manuscript and is responsible for integrity of research.

AM, TZ review of manuscript, data collection, data entry in SPSS, manuscript writing.

MR did data collection, manuscript writing, editing of manuscript.

TP data collection, data entry, statistical analysis.

Footnotes

Grant Support & Financial Disclosures: None.

REFERENCES

6. World Health Organization. Depression:A Global Crisis. World Mental Health Day. Occoquan, Va, USA: World Federation for Mental Health; 2012. Oct 10, [ Google Scholar]

Articles from Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences are provided here courtesy of Professional Medical Publications

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among university students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The main objective of the present study was to explore the frequency of Depression, anxiety and stress among university students in Sialkot, Pakistan.Survey research method was used to collect data from three universities of Sialkot by using simple random ...

# data[].attributes.headline
The Relationship between Types of Humor and Perceived Social Support among Adolescents

# data[].attributes.subject
The Relationship between Types of Humor and Perceived Social Support among Adolescents

# data[].attributes.body
Investigated the correlation of adolescent humor and perceived social support. The study also aimed to show whether perceived social support explained the existence of humor in the said sample population.

humor styles, perceived social support

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
ScienceDirect.com | Science, health and medical journals, full text articles and books.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ScienceDirect is the world's leading source for scientific, technical, and medical research. Explore journals, books and articles.