Humor as a Psychological Resource: The Relationship between Humor Styles and Mental Health among Young Adults

Abstract

Humor is important and often considered positive and beneficial with having varying effects on mental health in different cultures. Being powerful mental and social tool, the different types of humor styles influence interpersonal relationships, handling stress, and mental wellbeing and distress. The present study examined the relationship between numerous humor styles and mental health of young adults, i.e. 300 university students from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, aged 18 to 25, selected through convenience sampling technique. The present study was quantitative in nature and correlational research design was used. The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38) and the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) were administered to gather data from research participants. Using SPSS-27, descriptive statistics, Pearson Product Moment Correlation, t-test and ANOVA were used to investigate the results. The study findings revealed that increased psychological well-being and decreased psychological distress were strongly associated with affiliate and self-enhancing humor styles, revealing their adaptive significance. In contrast, there was a powerful association between self-defeating humor and worse wellbeing and elevated distress. There were very few associations with aggressive humor. Regarding aggressive humor, men scored somewhat higher than women. Socioeconomic groups varied dramatically in their use of self-defeating humor, people with less financial resources using it more often than others. Whereas self-defeating humor can leave individuals more vulnerable to psychological issues, positive humor types boost adaptability and psychological wellness. These outcomes demonstrate that increasing the use of positive humor can be an effective approach to improve psychological well-being of young adults, especially during educational settings