Mature Humor or Immature Wit?: The Interaction Effects of Laughter Humor Production, Humor Aprreciation, and Defensive Coping Strategies on Emotional and Physical Stress Symptoms

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of humor and mirth in stress management by an adult population with the potential for high occupational stress. The primary objective was to test the efficacy of each of the humor components (laughter, humor appreciation, and humor production) in mediating the stress response while controlling for other coping strategies. Two new instruments were developed for use in this study; (1) the Emotional Coping Scale to assess laughter and humor production, (2) the Stress Mediators Inventory to measure mature coping and immature defense strategies. Over 2,000 employees of the University of Maryland College Park campus were surveyed, using random probability sampling, stratifying by the 9 EEO occupational categories, such as administration and professionals. Questionnaires were dispersed through inter-campus mail. Results from the 754 returned questionnaires were analyzed with the appropriate multivariate techniques. Males, minorities, faculty skilled crafts, service maintenance, and fellowship students were under-represented. With these limitations in mind, results suggest: (1) men scored significantly higher than women on all three components of humor, as measured by this study; (2) humor appreciation and laughter, but not humor production were significantly related to emotional stress, while only laughter was related to physical stress symptoms, such that those with higher humor scores showed lower stress scores; (3) the type of humor response (self directed, other directed, or neutral) as related to stress symptoms; (4) the interaction effect between humor variables and immature defense strategies for coping with stress did not significantly predict stress; (5) there appears to be a stress and coping profile that is significantly different for many of the 9 occupational groups, such that those with high demand and low control jobs show higher stress scores.