The relationship between humor styles and coping styles of high school students

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between styles of humor and coping styles among high school students. Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and Coping Styles Inventory were administered to 647 (248 females, 299 male) high school students. A secondary aim of the study was to determine if the HSQ was valid for use with a high school student population. For this purpose HSQ was administered to 471 (229 female, 242 male) high school students prior to the main study. Results indicated that the HSQ was a valid and reliable instrument for use in the studies conducted with high school students. Significant correlation coefficients were found between humor styles and coping styles. Affiliative humor style was positively correlated with `seeking of social support? and negatively correlated with `helpless? coping style. Self-enhancing humor style was positively correlated with `self-confident? and `optimistic? coping styles, negatively correlated with `helpless? coping style. Conversely aggressive humor style was negatively correlated with `self-confident? and `optimistic? coping style and positively with `submissive? coping style. Similarly self-defeating humor was positively correlated with `submissive? coping style. The results of the 2 (high vs. low humor style) X 2 (gender) MANOVAs employed to the CSI subscores of the students who had high and low scores on the concerning humor style showed significant main effects for humor styles and gender, however, no significant interaction between style of humor and gender was found. The results indicated that students with a high affiliative humor style seemed to prefer more `self-confident? style and `seeking of social support? and less `helpless? style than those with a low affiliative humor style. Similarly students with a high self-enhancing humor style seemed to prefer more `optimistic? and `self-confident? styles and less `helpless? and `submissive? styles than those with a low self-enhancing humor style. Conversely students with a high aggressive humor style seemed to prefer more `submissive? style and less `self-confident? and `optimistic? styles than those with a low aggressive humor style. Finally students with a high self-defeating humor style seemed to prefer more `helpless? and `submissive? styles than those with a low self-defeating humor style. Significant gender differences for humor styles and coping styles were found. Results revealed that males seemed to prefer `self-confident? and `optimistic? coping styles whereas females tend to use `helpless? coping style. Males also tend to prefer self-defeating and aggressive humor styles more than females do. Keywords: Humor, stress, humor styles, coping styles