Development and validation of a multidimensional sense of humor scale

Abstract

Personal sense of humor has been recognized as a coping mechanism. Sense of humor as a construct, however, is multidimensional. Existing efforts to assess overall sense of humor are, for a number of reasons, deficient. The present study reports the development and factor analysis of a new Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale that may be useful in a variety of research and clinical applications.

Loneliness, Social Interactions and Sense of Humor. A Quantitative Study Comparing Romanian Students and Older Adults

“…The Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (MSHS Thorson & Powell, 1993) was used to assess participants' self-evaluation on the use of humor in interpersonal relationships. Sample items are "Other people tell me that I say funny things"; "Humor helps me cope"; "I like a good joke"; I can say things in such a way as to make people laugh", and participants indicated on a 5-point Likert scale how well each of the statements described them; from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much).…”

“…A sample of 25 men (mean age= 21, SD =2.53) and 170 women (mean age= 21, SD= 1.87) filled in the survey; two respondents did not indicate gender. The survey contained the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (Thorson & Powell, 1993), the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale for Adults (diTomaso, Brannen & Best, 2004). Participants also reported the frequency of interactions with family and friends and filled in socio-demographic data.…”

“…A principal components factor analysis was conducted, and produced four dimensions. However, items loaded differently on the four factors than they did in the original English language instrument (Thorson & Powell, 1993), and also differently from the sample of Romanian older adults (Schiau, 2016), suggesting an age-specific difference in the way humor is used and assessed. not used in the current study.…”

Validación transcultural de la Escala de Inteligencia Emocional de Schutte

“…Se emplearon tres subescalas de la adaptación transcultural (Omar, Thorson y Powell (1993). Cada subescala está integrada por 5 ítems con formato Likert de 5 puntos, variando desde "muy en desacuerdo" a "muy de acuerdo".…”

Women Gossip and Men Brag: Perceived Gender Differences in the Use of Humor by Romanian Older Women

“…The present study departs from the research by Schiau (2016a) who investigated the use of humor in the interpersonal communication of Romanian older adults, aged 60 and over, in a quantitative approach, using the Multidimensional Sense of Humor Scale (Thorson & Powell, 1993). Women in the sample obtained lower scores than men on three of the four subscales of the instrument (humor for negotiation, production and social use of humor, adaptive humor).…”