Perceived Parental Warmth and Rejection in Childhood as Predictors of Humor Styles and Subjective Happiness

Abstract

This research examined maternal and paternal w armth (acceptance) and rejection (hostility and aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection), as remembered by young adults, in relation to humor styles and subjective happiness. A total of 283 Lebanese college students completed the Arabic versions of the Adult Parental Acceptance-Rejection Questionnaire for Mother and Father, the Humor Styles Questionnaire, and the Subjective Happiness Scale. As predicted, parental warmth correlated positively and parental overall rejection and specific rejection scores correlated negatively w ith subjective happiness ratings. Parental warmth tended to correlate positively with use of adaptive humor styles, and negatively with use of maladaptive humor styles, while parental rejection tended to correlate positively with use of maladaptive humor styles and negatively with use of adaptive humor styles. I n addition, self-enhancing humor mediated the relationships between parental warmth and rejection and subjective happiness. Overall, the findings are consistent w ith the view that parental w armth and rejection might contribute to the development of particular styles of humor, which in turn may contribute to later happiness and well-being.

Effectiveness of a parental training programme in enhancing the parent–child relationship and reducing harsh parenting practices and parental stress in preparing children for their transition to primary school: a randomised controlled trial

“…The psychometric properties of the perceived parental aggression scale have been empirically tested [ 33 , 34 ], showing adequate reliability and validity.…”

A Pilot Study of the Relation between Humor Styles and the Past-Positive and Past-Negative Time Perspectives

“…Although both Affi liative Humor and Self-enhancing Humor have been reported to be correlated positively with subjective happiness and warmth of both mother and father ( Kazarian, et al, 2010 ) and life satisfaction ( Kazarian & Martin, 2004 ) and negatively correlated with hostility/ aggression, indiff erence/neglect, undiff erentiated rejection, and overall rejection of both the mother and father ( Kazarian, et al, 2010 ), for each of those correlations the relationship is stronger for Self-enhancing Humor than it is for Affi liative Humor. This is consistent with the results of this study, where the positive correlations between Self-enhancing and Affi liative Humor with the Past-Positive time perspective and the negative correlations between Affi liative Humor and Self-enhancing Humor with the Past-Negative time perspective are stronger for Self-enhancing Humor than for Affi liative Humor.…”

“…Several studies have found a relationship between the diff erent humor styles and individuals' early experiences with primary caretakers. Kazarian, Moghnie, and Martin (2010) found that the affi liative and self-enhancing humor styles were correlated positively with a warm mother and father and negatively with overall rejection from the mother and father. Conversely, aggressive and self-defeating humor styles were correlated negatively with the warmth of the mother and father and positively with overall rejection by the mother and father.…”

“…Considering the importance of a close, positive relationship between parents/caregivers and children for the child's life satisfaction and happiness ( Huebner, 1991 ;Holder & Coleman, 2009 ;Kazarian, et al, 2010 ), the research implies that those high in self-enhancing humor and affi liative humor would tend to have more positive past experiences than negative experiences, and those high in self-defeating humor would have more negative than positive past experiences. Hypothesis 1.…”

What Makes Korean Youth Happy: Self-Directedness Mediates the Relationship between Parenting and Subjective Well-Being

“…Therefore, it is important to increase self-directedness to increase subjective well-being in adolescents who perceive parenting behavior as overprotective. To summarize, emotional warmth from parents is likely to enhance the child's subjective well-being; however, overprotective or excessively rejecting parenting behavior are likely to reduce the child's subjective well-being (Kim, 2011;Kazarian, Moghnie, & Martin, 2010).…”