The mediator role of parental acceptance-rejection in the relationship between parents' humor style and children's social competence

The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating role of parental acceptance-rejection in the relationship between parents' humor style and children's social competence. 403 parents, including 284 mothers (70.5%) and 119 fathers (29.5%) with children aged between 35 and 71 months, participated in the study. Participants filled out the Demographic Information Form, Humor Styles Scale, Parental Acceptance-Rejection Scale (Short Form) and Social Competence and Behavior Evaluation-30 Scale (SYDD-30). Hayes' PROCESS Macro Analysis Model 4 was used for mediation analyses. According to the findings, parental rejection mediated the relationship between parent's both harmonious and maladaptive humor styles and the child's social competence. Harmonious humor style was negatively associated with parental rejection and parental rejection was negatively associated with social competence. Maladaptive humor style was positively associated with parental rejection and parental rejection was negatively associated with social competence. As a result, humor styles were associated with social competence through parental rejection.