Humor styles, emotion regulation and subjective well-being in young adults

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship of humor styles, emotion regulation and subjective well-being in young adults. It was hypothesized that adaptive humor styles were likely to have positive relationship with adaptive emotion regulation and subjective well-being; and vice versa in case of maladaptive humor styles. Moreover, emotional regulation strategies were likely to mediate the relationship between humor styles and well-being. A cross-sectional research design with convenience sampling was used to collect a sample of 350 university students, in which 175 were men and 175 were women, with age ranging from 18 to 24 years. Results revealed that adaptive humor styles had significant positive relationship with adaptive emotion regulation and subjective well-being, whereas maladaptive humor styles were positively related with maladaptive emotion regulation and negatively with subjective well-being. Emotion regulation was found as a mediator between humor styles and subjective well-being in young adults. Findings of the present study can broaden understanding about the role of humor styles and emotion regulation in influencing young adults’ subjective well-being. The clinicians can incorporate the use of adaptive humor in psychoeducational programs as well as management of emotional problems to develop a greater sense of satisfaction and happiness among young people.