Volume 19, Issue 4

Contemporary approaches to understanding humor have developed models that underscore the importance of both adaptive and maladaptive humor styles. The expression of these humor styles can then impact either positively or negatively on the self or others. One such model, as recently proposed by Rod Martin and his colleagues, outlines four distinct humor styles; namely self-enhancing, affiliative, self-defeating, and aggressive humor. Several studies with both adults and older adolescents provide initial empirical support for this model, including the adaptive aspects of self-enhancing and affiliative humor, as well as the maladaptive components of self-defeating and aggressive humor. However, these four humor styles have yet to be considered with respect to children. As such, the present paper considers how these different humor styles may bear on peer relationships and bullying during middle childhood (ages 6–12). In our examination, we describe how adaptive and maladaptive humor styles may either help or hinder the child's status within a peer group. Special emphasis is directed towards potential relationships between specific humor styles and either peer acceptance or victimization, as well as both direct and indirect forms of bullying. We conclude by describing several potential areas of research that may prove beneficial in furthering our understanding of humor and social relationship issues in middle childhood.

This research examined the structure and correlates of an Armenian translation of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ; Martin et al. 2003) among a community sample of ethnic Armenians residing in Lebanon. Four humor factors were found, as in the original Canadian samples: affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humor. Scale reliabilities were generally acceptable, and inter-correlations among the scales were low. Armenian-Lebanese participants, as compared to Canadian and Belgian norms, obtained significantly lower scores on all four humor scales. Compared to females, males reported significantly more use of all four styles of humor, particularly aggressive and self-defeating humor. Humor styles correlated differentially, and generally as predicted, with perceived health, psychological well-being, and family adjustment, although they were unrelated to depression. Higher scores on aggressive humor related to higher vertical individualism and lower horizontal and vertical collectivism. Overall, the findings provide cross-cultural support for the theoretical structure and usefulness of the HSQ and represent an initial step in the study of humor among Armenians.

This investigation tested the hypothesis of humor effects on test anxiety to improve test performance. A pretest-posttest control group design was employed to determine differences between humorous and serious versions of the same test content. One graduate biostatistics course of 98 students participated. Based on three independent test administrations, ANCOVAs were computed to isolate the effects of humorous directions only, humorous items only, and the combination of both on emotional/physiological and worry/cognitive anxiety symptoms and biostatistics achievement. Humorous directions had a statistically significant (p < .05) impact on constructed-response item performance for the first test (descriptive statistics), with an effect size of .43. Multiple-choice test performance correlated negatively with the two pre-anxiety subscales (r = −.46, p < .001), explaining up to 21% of the variance. The limitations of very low pre-anxiety levels and very high test performance precluded any other significant effects. The contributions of the humor technique used in the study and the value of measuring situation-specific anxiety immediately before and after a real testing condition were discussed.

Donna M. Goldstein: Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown . Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 349 pp. $60.00 cloth, $24.95 paper. (Elliott Oring) Ron Jenkins: Dario Fo and Franca Rame: Artful Laughter . New York: Aperture Foundation, 2001. 211 pp. $45.00. (William F. Fry)