How Humor Styles Affect Self-Compassion and Life Satisfaction: A Study in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examined the effects of humor styles on self-compassion and life satisfaction. Two hundred and seventy-seven adults in Hong Kong completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS), the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS). Results showed that self-compassion and life satisfaction were positive predicted by self-enhancing humor but were negatively predicted by self-defeating humor. Self-enhancing humor style partially mediated the relationship between self-compassion and life satisfaction. Affiliate humor and aggressive humor did not show any significant effect on either self-compassion or life satisfaction. These findings demonstrate how different humor styles affected self-compassion on life satisfaction and provided directions for future studies on humor.

Does the Relation Between Humor Styles and Subjective Well-Being Vary Across Culture and Age? A Meta-Analysis

“…Similarly, Jiang et al ( 2019 ) argued that due to dialectic thinking style, Chinese people tend to show contradictory attitudes toward humor that are simultaneously positive and negative. Taken together, such ambivalent belief may lead to mixed findings on a humor effect among Chinese (Sun et al, 2009 ; Jiang et al, 2011 ; Yue et al, 2017 ), which in turn weakens the moderating role of culture on the relation between humor and SWB.…”

“…On one hand, numerous studies suggest a great similarity between humor effects between the East and the West; that is, like Westerners, Easterners perceive that self-enhancing and affiliative humor contribute to SWB and that aggressive and self-defeating humor damages SWB. For example, Chinese students indicated humor that is affiliative and self-enhancing is positively associated with increased self-esteem, self-compassion, and optimism, as well as with decreased loneliness and distress (Sun et al, 2009 ; Cheung and Yue, 2013 ; Yue et al, 2014b , 2017 ). Similarly, the use of aggressive and self-defeating humor was positively correlated with loneliness, depression, anxiety, and lowered self-esteem (Sun et al, 2009 ; Cheung and Yue, 2013 ; Yue et al, 2014a , b ).…”

Self-Compassion and Self-Protection in Two-Chair Technique: Consensual Qualitative Analysis of Transcribed Video-Recordings

“…It could be seen a similar case in laughing or chuckling. According to Yue et al (2017), there is a relationship between humour and self-compassion, which in their research is used within coping strategies, emotional regulation, or even overall improvement and strengthening of the self.…”

Cultural Differences in Humor Perception, Usage, and Implications

“…For example, affiliative and self-enhancing humor could help sojourning mainland Chinese students studying in Hong Kong cope with acculturative stress, increase their level of life satisfaction, and decrease their depressive mood (Cheung and Yue, 2012). It is positively associated with higher levels of self-compassion for Hong Kong students (Yue et al, 2017), higher levels of optimism, and lower levels of loneliness and distress (Sun et al, 2009; Yue et al, 2010a, 2014b; Cheung and Yue, 2013), for both mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students, and is positively associated with self-esteem for mainland Chinese, Hong Kong, and Indian students (Yue and Hiranandani, 2014; Yue et al, 2014a).…”