An investigation into the relationship between humor styles, gratitude, age, and well-being

Abstract

This current study set out to investigate the relationship between humor styles, gratitude and age on well-being. This study involved N=114 international participants who completed an online questionnaire consisting of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) developed by Rod Martin, the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test (GRAT) followed by the Flourishing Scale for well-being created by (Diener, 2009). Correlational and multiple regression analyses including mediation and moderation were run to test the hypotheses. The key findings that emerged from the study were that self – enhancing and affiliative humor have a strong and significant relationship with well-being, and that self - enhancing humor may be the greatest predictor of well-being. Gratitude also displayed a strong relationship with wellbeing, self-enhancing and affiliative humor. Age did not have a significant link to any of the humor styles or gratitude, but it did have a significant relationship with well-being. Finally, self – defeating and aggressive humor had a weak and negligible relationship with well-being. It was suggested from these findings that future research would greatly benefit from investigating more exclusively the role of self-enhancing humor and it’s effect on well-being, and the incorporation of a self-enhancing humor style and gratitude exercise to cultivate these traits. The implications of this research project suggest there is warranty for researchers, mental health practitioners and educators to further research approaches in order to cultivate positive humor styles and a grateful outlook among the population