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Humor and resilience: relationships with happiness in young adults

  • Shelia M. Kennison

    Shelia M. Kennison is a professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research focuses on topics in cognitive science, including humor, language, and personality. She has authored numerous research reports as well as three: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Humor, Psychology of Language: Theories and Applications, and Introduction to Language Development. Her research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Published/Copyright: September 23, 2022

Abstract

Prior research has shown that more resilient individuals report higher levels of happiness. Other research also shows that those who use positive humor styles (i.e., self-enhancing and affiliative) more often and use negative humor styles (i.e., aggressive and self-defeating) less often report higher levels of happiness. Resilience research has characterized resilience as involving multiple protective factors that contribute to functioning better than expected despite past or present adversities. The present research tested the hypothesis that the use of one or more humor styles may function as distinct protective factors of resilience in predicting happiness. An online survey study with a sample of 204 (105 men, 99 women) young adults showed that after controlling for resilience, less frequent use of the negative humor styles (i.e., aggressive and self-defeating) emerged as protective factors, related to higher levels of happiness. The use of the positive humor styles did not account for additional variance in happiness after resilience was controlled. The results are compatible with research suggesting that improvements in well-being are associated with behavioral changes.


Corresponding author: Shelia M. Kennison, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, USA, E-mail:

About the author

Shelia M. Kennison

Shelia M. Kennison is a professor of psychology at Oklahoma State University. She received her Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Her research focuses on topics in cognitive science, including humor, language, and personality. She has authored numerous research reports as well as three: The Cognitive Neuroscience of Humor, Psychology of Language: Theories and Applications, and Introduction to Language Development. Her research is currently funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Received: 2021-07-20
Accepted: 2022-05-30
Published Online: 2022-09-23
Published in Print: 2022-10-26

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