Exploring the relationship between humor styles, perceived stress and emotional resilience: A correlational study

Humor serves as an adaptive psychological mechanism that influences how individuals perceive stress and build resilience. The present correlational study explored the relationship between various humor styles: Affiliative, Self-Enhancing, Aggressive, and Self-Defeating with Perceived Stress and Emotional Resilience among young adults aged 18 to 26 years. The study aimed to understand whether the use of adaptive or maladaptive humor contributes to better stress management and resilience levels within this age group.

Data were collected through Google Forms and standardized questionnaires, including the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ; Martin et al., 2003), the Brief Inventory of Perceived Stress (BIPS; Gonzalez-Ramirez et al., 2012), and the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS; Smith et al., 2008). A total of 203 participants were selected using random and convenient sampling techniques. The data were analyzed using both IBM SPSS (v21.0) and Jamovi (v2.6.44) software, employing descriptive statistics, tests of normality, and Spearman’s rank correlation due to non-normal data distribution.

The findings revealed that self-enhancing and affiliative humor were the most commonly used styles among participants, indicating a tendency toward positive and socially adaptive humor. However, these adaptive humor styles did not show a significant relationship with perceived stress or emotional resilience, suggesting that humor may function more as a social tool than a direct stress buffer in this context. Self-defeating humor showed a weak negative correlation with emotional resilience, implying that individuals who often use self-deprecating humor might have lower resilience levels. No significant associations were found between aggressive humor and either stress or resilience.

Overall, the study highlights that while humor contributes to social harmony and emotional expression, its effectiveness in reducing stress or enhancing resilience may depend on broader psychological and cultural factors. The findings emphasize the need for developing adaptive humor training and resilience-building programs to promote mental well-being among young adults.