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.幽默是一种涉及笑声与对社会情境中戏谑性不协调感知的情感反应。每种幽默风格都反映了个体在日常生活中习惯性、自发性甚至无意识地运用幽默的不同方式。本研究旨在探讨适应性幽默的作用及其对心理幸福感的益处，同时将幽默视为一种重要的情绪调节机制，以提升青年群体的情绪能力。研究采用马丁（Martin）、普利克-多里斯（Puhlik-Doris）、拉森（Larsen）、格雷（Gray）与韦尔（Weir）于2003年编制的幽默风格问卷（Humour Styles Questionnaire）、赖夫（Ryff）1989年编制的心理幸福感量表（Ryff’s Psychological Well-being Scale），以及夏尔马（Sharma）和巴德瓦杰（Bhardwaj）1998年编制的情绪能力量表（Emotional Competence Scale），通过方便抽样法从127名年龄介于18至25岁的青年中收集数据，并采用斯皮尔曼等级相关、广义线性模型等统计方法进行分析。研究结果显示，亲和型幽默与自我提升型幽默风格与整体心理幸福感存在显著正相关，而攻击性幽默与自我挫败型幽默风格则与其存在显著负相关。亲和型、自我提升型与自我挫败型幽默风格均可预测心理幸福感。情绪能力与自我提升型幽默风格存在显著正相关，与自我挫败型幽默风格存在显著负相关，且上述两种幽默风格均为情绪能力的重要预测因素。本研究强调了适应性运用幽默对提升情绪能力与心理幸福感的重要性，这有助于建立更牢固的人际关系、提升社交技能与职业软技能。同时，研究也鼓励个体将适应性幽默作为一种有意识的策略，以应对压力或困境情境。