The relationship between humor styles and psychological symptoms

In this research, the relationship between Humor Styles and Psychological Symptoms have been examined. The sample of the study consisted of 250 volunteer adults of whom 149 female, 101 male and age range is 18-66. To determine the demographic datas "Personal Infırmation Form", to determine the humor styles "Humor Styles Questionnaire" , to measure the psychological symptoms "Brief Symptom Inventory" were applied. Scales were filled via online survey. Towards the purpose of the research, primarily, correlation analysis have been conducted to Humor Styles Questionnaire subscales and Brief Symptom Inventory subscales. Afterwards, simple or hierarchical regression analysis were applied to variables which were found related. As the results of analysis, Self-Defeating Humor and all subscales of the Brief Symptom Inventory and total points were found that are positively related and regressed Self- Defeating Humor. Self-Enhancing Humor and Depression and Negative Self were found that are negatively related and only Depression regressed Self-Enhancing Humor. Hostility regressed Aggressive Humor. In order to examine the effects of age and gender on Humor Styles, Mann Whitney-U and Kruskall Wallis-H tests were applied. As the results, Aggressive Humor subscale points were higher in males than females and in 18-26 age range Affiliative Humor subscale points are higher than other age groups. Key Words: Humor Styles, Psychological Symptoms