Do Humour Styles Impact Psychological Well-Being and Emotional Competence?

Humour is an emotional response that involves laughter and a perception of playful incongruity in a social context. Each humour style reflects the different ways in which individuals use humour in their daily lives habitually, spontaneously, and perhaps unconsciously. The present study aimed at studying the role of adaptive humour and its benefits on psychological well - being along with enhancing the emotional competencies of young adults while viewing humour as an important emotional regulation mechanism. The Humour Styles Questionnaire by Martin, Puhlik- Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir (2003), Ryff’s psychological well-being scale (1989) and Emotional Competence Scale by Sharma and Bhardwaj (1998) were used to collect data from 127 young adults aged 18-25 using convenience sampling and analysed using statistical measures such as Spearman's rank correlation and generalized linear models. The results showed that affiliative and self-enhancing humour styles have a significant positive relationship with overall psychological well-being, while aggressive and self-defeating humour styles have a significant negative relationship with it. Affiliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humour styles also predict psychological well-being. Emotional competence has a significant positive relationship with self-enhancing humour style and a significant negative relationship with self-defeating humour style. Both humour styles are significant predictors of emotional competence. The study highlights the importance of using humour adaptively to increase emotional competence and psychological well-being, which can aid in creating stronger interpersonal relationships, social skills, and vocational soft skills. It also encourages individuals to use humour adaptively as a conscious strategy to cope with stressful or difficult situations.