Investigation of the relationship between alexithymia levels, humor styles and anxiety levels in a university sample

Alexithymia is defined as having difficulty at expressing, identifying and feelings, tendency to think via perceptions of the outer world, disconnectedness with the inner world and limited fantasy and daydreaming experiences. Studies show that there is a relationship between alexithymia and high levels of anxiety. Humor is regarded as acoping strategy with negative affective states such as stress, anxiety, depression. Moreover, recent studies focus on the difference between positive and negative dimensions of humor and show that positive dimensions of humor have positive effects on health. Positive use of humor which contributes both to the person`s own health and to his relationships with others, requires awareness towards feelings of other people. For this reason, it is suggested that alexithymia has a relationship with different humor dimensions. There are some studies suggesting a relationship between alexithymia and types of humor use. Aim of this study is to explore the relationships between alexithymia and humor types as well as relationships between alexithymia and anxiety levels. The participants of this study were 254 undergraduate students from Beykent University Law School. 26 item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-26) (in order to measure alexithymia levels of participants), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (in order to measure anxiety levels) consisting of two different forms for state and trait anxiety and Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) (in order to measure humor types) were administered for data collection. Findings show that there are significant relationships between all of the variables studied. Different dimensions of alexithymia have correlations with both state and trait anxiety types. Alexithymia levels have significant correlations with use of humor. There is a negative relationship between alexithymia and positive use of humor and a positive relationship between alexithymia and negative use of humor. When the relationship between anxiety level and humor is considered, it is observed that positive use of humor has a positive relationship with low levels of anxiety and a negative relationship with high levels of anxiety. Furthermore there is a positive relationship between State and Trait Anxiety levels. In this study, it is found that alexithymia has relationships with anxiety levels and humor types. Alexithymia, different dimensions of alexithymia and anxiety levels predict humor types. Considering the relationship between the variables, it can be suggested that the decrease in the level of anxiety might affect positive use of humor and the use of positive and self-enhancing humor may have a role in reducing anxiety. In addition, as the level of alexithymia increases, use of humor in aggressive, negative manner increases; as the level of alexithymia decreases, it might be suggested that the use of humor in a positive, participatory and self-enhancing manner will increase. The results are relevant clinically in that, integration of intervention sutilising the relationship between alexithymia, anxiety and use of humor into treatment plan might be further investigated for their enhancing role in psychosocial functioning.