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The development of a humor styles questionnaire for younger children

  • Lucy James

    Lucy James is a final year PhD student in psychology at Keele University. Her research interests include the development of children’s humor styles, raising awareness of adaptive and maladaptive styles of humor and assessing children’s psychosocial adjustment using questionnaires.

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    und Claire Fox

    Claire Fox is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Keele University, UK. Claire is interested in researching vulnerable groups of children and young people, including those affected by bullying and domestic abuse, with a view to informing interventions in schools. She was the Principal Investigator on the ESRC-funded project, ‘Humour and Bullying in Schools.’

Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 20. September 2016
HUMOR
Aus der Zeitschrift HUMOR Band 29 Heft 4

Abstract

Despite the adaptation of the humor styles questionnaire for older children a measure suitable for children below the age of eleven was needed. The current research involved three separate studies leading to the creation of the humor styles questionnaire for younger children (HSQ-Y), suitable for those aged 8–11 years. Study one involved the development of a measure to assess aggressive and affiliative humor. Subsequently, study two involved the adaptation of the measure to include all four humor styles, which was administered to children alongside a measure of friendship quality. To provide further validation for the HSQ-Y as a measure, study three involved the administration of the HSQ-Y twice over a three-week period and peer reports of the four humor styles. Several measures of psychosocial adjustment were also included. The HSQ-Y was found to be a reliable and valid measure of the four humor styles in children aged 8–11 years. Associations between the humor styles and psychosocial adjustment variables were also found, supporting the discriminant validity of the measure.

About the authors

Lucy James

Lucy James is a final year PhD student in psychology at Keele University. Her research interests include the development of children’s humor styles, raising awareness of adaptive and maladaptive styles of humor and assessing children’s psychosocial adjustment using questionnaires.

Claire Fox

Claire Fox is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Keele University, UK. Claire is interested in researching vulnerable groups of children and young people, including those affected by bullying and domestic abuse, with a view to informing interventions in schools. She was the Principal Investigator on the ESRC-funded project, ‘Humour and Bullying in Schools.’

Acknowledgement

We are extremely grateful to the children who took part in this research and to the schools, teachers, and parents who allowed them to do so.

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Published Online: 2016-9-20
Published in Print: 2016-10-1

©2016 by De Gruyter Mouton

Heruntergeladen am 21.11.2025 von https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/humor-2016-0042/pdf
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