THE USE OF HUMOR IN SELF-DISCLOSURE: A COPING STRATEGY FOR UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Research on the effect of humor on health of individuals has been underway for several decades. The present study sought to extend previous findings by (1) investigating the effect of humor on emotional improvement in a communicative context wherein one person enacts humor to disclose stress with another individual, (2) explore the role of reappraisal in the relationship between the use of humor and emotional improvement, and (3) explore the role of received social support in the relationship between the use of humor and emotional improvement. A total of eighty-three undergraduate and graduate students at a Southeastern University participated in the online survey. The respondents were instructed to take a moment to recall a recent conversation where they used humor to talk about their stress with another person. Afterwards they completed a series of online questionnaires, including measures of humor types, perceived emotional improvement after the conversation, reappraisal of stress after the conversation, received support from conversational partners, coping humor, humor orientation and perceived stress. Results indicated that humor was positively associated with emotional improvement. Mediation analyses revealed that the positive relationship between humor and emotional improvement was mediated by reappraisal and received social support.

Grantor dc:publisher

Wake Forest University

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Chen, Peiqi

• College Students

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10339/62640

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:wakespace.lib.wfu.edu:10339/62640