Humor styles moderate the association between health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease
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Sarah A. Schall
Sarah A. Schall, PsyD, is a graduate of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology from the University of La Verne. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has extensive experience working in partial hospitalization (PHP), residential, and inpatient settings. In addition, Dr. Schall maintains a private outpatient practice located in Newport Beach, CA where she provides outpatient therapy to individuals diagnosed with OCD.
Luci A. Martin, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the University of La Verne. Her research interests are in the area of Clinical and Health Psychology.
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Jerry L. Kernes
Jerry L. Kernes is Associate Dean of the College of Health and Community Well-Being, Program Chair and Dct of the Psyd Program, and Professor of Psychology at the University of La Verne. His research interests are in positive psychology.
Catherine Powers, PhD is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research interests are in the area of lifestyle change and coping with oncology patients.
Abstract
Chronic disease leads to death, disability, and costs. Humor has been studied as an emotion-focused way of coping with chronic disease; however, it is unclear whether type of humor used moderates the relationship between health difficulties and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between four types of humor (i.e., affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humor), health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease (n = 195; mean age = 34.14, SD = 9.06; 56.7 % male; 74.1 % White/European American) using a cross-sectional, correlational design. Utilizing hierarchical multiple regression and controlling for demographic and lifestyle variables, four humor styles (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating) moderated the relationships between health difficulties and quality of life. As health difficulties increased, greater use of self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humor was associated with greater quality of life, while affiliative humor was associated with lower quality of life. Clinical and research applications that implement humor as a coping strategy may help to decrease the burden of living with a chronic disease.
About the authors
Sarah A. Schall, PsyD, is a graduate of the Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology from the University of La Verne. She specializes in the assessment and treatment of Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (OCD) and has extensive experience working in partial hospitalization (PHP), residential, and inpatient settings. In addition, Dr. Schall maintains a private outpatient practice located in Newport Beach, CA where she provides outpatient therapy to individuals diagnosed with OCD.
Luci A. Martin, PhD is Professor Emeritus at the University of La Verne. Her research interests are in the area of Clinical and Health Psychology.
Jerry L. Kernes is Associate Dean of the College of Health and Community Well-Being, Program Chair and Dct of the Psyd Program, and Professor of Psychology at the University of La Verne. His research interests are in positive psychology.
Catherine Powers, PhD is an Assistant Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Her research interests are in the area of lifestyle change and coping with oncology patients.
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Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Full Length Articles
- Satire, honey and tears: how The Onion and The Babylon Bee do satire
- Category-activity puzzles as resources for humor in L2 classrooms
- Men’s responses to being confronted for sexism with and without humor
- Group boundaries in humor in the online public sphere
- “That’d be another crisis nearly avoided”: humor and conflict management in hospital handover meetings
- Humor styles moderate the association between health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease
- Book Reviews
- Aaron Sachs: Stay cool: why dark comedy matters in the fight against climate change
- Conal Condren: Between laughter and satire: aspects of the historical study of humour
- Patrick Giamario: Laughter as politics: critical theory in an age of hilarity
- Loukia Kostopoulou and Vasiliki Misiou: Transmedial perspectives on humor and translation: from page to screen to stage
- Elliott Oring: The consolations of humor and other folklore essays
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Full Length Articles
- Satire, honey and tears: how The Onion and The Babylon Bee do satire
- Category-activity puzzles as resources for humor in L2 classrooms
- Men’s responses to being confronted for sexism with and without humor
- Group boundaries in humor in the online public sphere
- “That’d be another crisis nearly avoided”: humor and conflict management in hospital handover meetings
- Humor styles moderate the association between health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease
- Book Reviews
- Aaron Sachs: Stay cool: why dark comedy matters in the fight against climate change
- Conal Condren: Between laughter and satire: aspects of the historical study of humour
- Patrick Giamario: Laughter as politics: critical theory in an age of hilarity
- Loukia Kostopoulou and Vasiliki Misiou: Transmedial perspectives on humor and translation: from page to screen to stage
- Elliott Oring: The consolations of humor and other folklore essays
