Use of humor as a coping mechanism, psychological adjustment, and social interaction (original) (raw)
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Impact of Social Anxiety and Humor Styles on Mental Health
Pakistan Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2021
The present study is a “cross-sectional survey research”; aimed toward monitoring the impact of Social Anxiety and Humor Styles on Mental Health. For the study, 500 subjects (205 males, 295 females) were approached. The sample was obtained through the use of random sampling. “The age range” of the applicants was as of 18 to 31 years. The Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale by Michael Liebowitz was used to measure the Social Anxiety among the participants, the “four Humor Styles (Affiliative, Self-enhancing, Aggressive and Self-defeating)” be measured by means of Humor Style Questionnaire by Dr. Rod A. Martin, and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-5) by Veit and Ware was used to measure the Mental Health of the research participants. Results of the study revealed that Social Anxiety and Humor Styles have a significant impact on Mental Health. The study further monitored how men and women differ in terms of Social Anxiety, Humor Styles and Mental Health. The findings suggested that no gende...
Describes the development and initial validation of the Humor Styles Questionnaire, which assesses four dimensions relating to individual differences in uses of humor. These are: relatively benign uses of humor to enhance the self (Self-enhancing) and to enhance oneÕs relationships with others (Affiliative), use of humor to enhance the self at the expense of others (Aggressive), and use of humor to enhance relationships at the expense of self (Self-defeating). Validation data indicate that the four scales differentially relate in predicted ways to peer ratings of humor styles and to measures of mood (cheerfulness, depression, anxiety, hostility), self-esteem, optimism, well-being, intimacy, and social support. They also relate to all five dimensions of the Five Factor Model and to Agency and Communion. The first two scales overlap with previous humor tests, whereas the Aggressive and Self-defeating humor scales largely tap different dimensions. Males scored higher than females on Aggressive and Self-defeating humor. It is expected that the HSQ will be useful for research on humor and psychological well-being by assessing forms of humor that may be deleterious to health as well as those that are beneficial.
Humor as a protective factor against anxiety and depression
International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology
Background/Objectives: Even though humor its part of everyday life, only in the last 40 years has Psychology begun to discern its impact on mental health. The aim of this paper is to explore the role that humor styles may have as protectors against anxiety and depression and their relationship with optimism. Method: A sample of 804 participants (M = 39.28; SD = 14.71) was used to analyze the uses of humor, optimism and clinical symptoms of anxiety and depression. In addition, the influence of sociodemographic variables such as sex, geographic location, age and educational level on different uses of humor was studied. Through an analysis of structural equations, the variables that had a protective or facilitating role in depression and anxiety were analyzed. Results: Men and women differ in the use of a more aggressive humor style, and the use of affiliative humor styles decreases with age. The structural equation model indicated a good fit to the proposed theoretical model. Conclusions: Humor is a tool of everyday life and it can act for or against an individual's mental health.
A Comprehensive Review on the Effects of Humor in Patients With Depression
Cureus
Depression is a leading cause of disability worldwide and a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease. Although there are known, effective treatments for depression, people in low-and middle-income areas experience multiple barriers which limit their ability to receive adequate treatment. Some known barriers to effective care include a lack of resources, lack of trained healthcare providers, and social stigma associated with mental disorders and this creates gaps in mental health care and the need for more treatment modalities and adjuvant therapies to address these gaps. This review article was conducted using the scale for the assessment of non-systematic review articles (SANRA). We searched three databases; EMBASE, PubMed (MEDLINE), and Google Scholar using specified search terms. We had a total of nine articles with sample sizes ranging from 37 to 1551, and the age of participants ranged from 23 to 93 years. Articles were diverse in race and geographical locations. The articles were derived from cross-sectional studies, randomized studies, and experimental studies, and they focused on the relationship between humor and depression, and the reduced risk of depression in the study population. The articles identified different aspects of the relationship between humor and depression. The willingness of patients with depression to recognize or participate in humor could be defective resulting in abnormal social interactions such as withdrawal. However, there was some significant influence of humor or its styles on patients with depression either mitigating depressive symptoms or having no impact at all.
Attitude toward humor in patients experiencing depressive symptoms
Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 2011
This study measures the correlation between disposition to humor and level of depression to investigate openness to humorous interventions for the treatment of depression.Design, Participants, and Measurement: Individuals (n=200) with depression received questionnaires to assess their sense of humor and attitude toward humor using the Svebak's Humor Questionnaire and a disposition toward humor questionnaire. The correlation between Svebak's Humor Questionnaire scores and Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology-Self Report scores was then measured. RESULTS were further analyzed by race, age, and gender to assess any emerging trends within those groups. Svebak's Humor Questionnaire mean scores remained high across gender, race, and age. However, there was not a statistically significant correlation between the level of depression and sense of humor (r=-0.22). The only significant relationship noted was between disposition toward humor and depression was for subjects a...
2013
In recent decades, a sense of humor has come to be viewed not only as a very socially desirable personality trait but also as an important component of mental health. Besides boosting positive emotions and counteracting negative moods like depression and anxiety, humor is thought to be a valuable mechanism for coping with stressful life events and an important social skill for initiating, maintaining, and enhancing satisfying interpersonal relationships (Galloway and Cropley, 1999; Kuiper and Olinger, 1998; Lefcourt, 2001). A good deal of research in the psychology of humor in the past two decades has focused on the relation between humor and various aspects of mental health. Our discussion of the implications of humor for mental health in this chapter brings us to clinical psychology, the branch of psychology having to do with the study, assessment, and treatment of psychological disorders, as well as the study and promotion of factors contributing to positive mental health and well-being (Seligman and Peterson, 2003). Clinical psychology is both a research discipline and an applied profession. In this chapter, I will focus on the research aspect, exploring empirical findings concerning the role of humor in psychological health and well-being; applied issues will be the focus in Chapter 11, where I will consider applications of humor to psychotherapy. Mental health is often defined in negative terms as the absence of psychological disturbance or emotional distress. In this chapter, I will take a more positive approach, defining it in terms of three general capacities that seem to be essential for
Attachment orientations and reactivity to humor in a social support context
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 2013
In this behavioral observation study, we tested how individuals’ use of affiliative and aggressive humor (observer rated) impacted their romantic partners’ mood in a social support context. We also examined whether the attachment orientations of the humor-receiving partners moderated the humor effects. As predicted, support providers’ use of affiliative humor predicted pre- to post-discussion decreases in support recipients’ negative mood. Providers’ use of aggressive humor predicted increases in recipients’ negative mood. The deleterious effects of more aggressive humor were exacerbated in recipients who were more anxiously attached. Providers who used more affiliative humor were also more empathically accurate, and providers involved with more avoidantly attached partners and who used more aggressive humor were less judgmental and more validating of their avoidant partner’s behavior.
Sense of Humor, Stable Affect, and Psychological Well-Being
Europe’s Journal of Psychology, 2014
A good sense of humor has been implicated as a quality that could contribute to psychological well-being. The mechanisms through which sense of humor might operate include helping to reappraise threats, serving as a character strength, or facilitating happiness. The current research attempts to integrate these possibilities by examining whether a good sense of humor might operate globally by helping to maintain a more stable positive affect. Stable positive affect has been shown to facilitate more effective problem solving and to build resilience. However, not all humor is adaptive humor, so we also examine the roles that different styles of humor use might play. Individual differences in humor styles were used to predict stable levels of affect. Then, in a longitudinal design, humor styles and stable affect were used to predict subsequent resilience and psychological health. The results indicated that stable affect was related to resilience and psychological well-being, and that a sense of humor that involves self-enhancing humor, humor based on maintaining a humorous perspective about one's experiences, was positively related to stable positive affect, negatively related to stable negative affect, and was mediated through stable affect in influencing resilience, well-being and distress. Thus, while a good sense of humor can lead to greater resilience and better psychological health, the current results, focusing on stable affect, find only self-enhancing humor provides reliable benefits.
Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between stressors and moods
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983
Previous research has indicated that one's sense of humor serves as a moderator of the deleterious effects of negative stressful life events. However, because this research has been only cross-sectional in nature, such conclusions remain tentative. The purpose of this study was to provide for a more rigorous test of the humor as a stress-buffer hypothesis by using a prospective design that also attempted to control for the variance attributable to prior level of distress. Additionally, two measures of humor were included to increase the construct validity of the findings. Results from a series of regression analyses indicated that humor served as a moderator of stress for depressive, but not anxiety, symptomatology, regardless of the measure of humor that was used in the analyses. Implications of these findings for future research are noted. We would like to extend our appreciation to two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.
An Investigation into the Effects of Humor and Laughter on Depressive Symptomology
2001
I would like to sincerely thank my mentor Dr. David Stein for his invaluable guidance on this project. His willingness to take time out of his busy schedule to provide support and help is greatly appreciated. Further, the contribution of his keen understanding of scientific methodology and his ability to effectively relay such understanding greatly enhanced the quality of the study. I would also like to thank Dr. Susan Crowley for her guidance throughout the study. Her support was manifested by her willingness to field questions in hallways, practicum supervision, unexpected office visits, or whatever other situation I may have found her. Moreover, her practical guidance was vital to the completion of this study. I am also thankful for the opportunity to work with Dr. Mary Doty. Her insightful feedback on drafts as well as her thoughtful consideration for the well-being of the study participants was a great benefit to the study. I would also like to thank my parents , Raymond and Debra Goodson , for their loving support and encouragement throughout this time of my life. Likewise, I would like to thank Lindsay Fuhriman for her patience and continual support. Finally, I would like to thank Derek Reinke , fellow graduate student and roommate, for his willingness to provide statistical consultations.