Abstract
Background
To adapt to dramatic changes from physical growth, physical development and the increasing demand of significant others, humor has been found to be an effective coping strategy. However, previous studies have found that adolescents start to express their humor styles with aggressive components which causes negative consequences, such as social anxiety and social loneliness. Therefore, the factors that influence adolescents’ humor styles, particularly negative ones, should be of concern.
Objective
The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate the effects of the classroom humor climate and the effects of the personal acceptance of humor messages on adolescents’ expressions of humor and (2) to examine how the personal acceptance of humor messages moderates these relationships.
Methods
Four types of humor expressions based on the Taiwan Adolescent Humor Instruments were measured: self-deprecating, other-devaluing, body language, and witty response (Chiang et al. in Psychol Test 58:179–205, 2011). The current study used a cross-sectional design with data from a nationally representative random sample of 1718 students. The data were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling.
Results
Adolescents’ acceptance of humor messages influenced their use of each type of humor, and the classroom climate also modestly influenced their use of humor. When the classroom climate favored self-deprecating/other-devaluing humor, and adolescents more positively accepted self-deprecating/other-devaluing humor, they engaged in more of that type of humor.
Conclusion
Adolescents’ acceptance of humor messages should be assessed to identify and reduce maladaptive humor climates and to facilitate a more positive humor style in the classroom by promoting appropriate social norms.
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Acknowledgments
The study carried out an analysis of part of the 2007 data from the National Science Council supported (NSC96-2516-S-002-013-MY3). We would like to thank the 20 participating schools for providing venues and time for the survey, the students and their parents who were involved in the survey for their support, and the interviewers and supervisors that helped carry out the survey. Hsueh-Chih Chen is also acknowledged for his helpful comments on an earlier draft.
Author Contributions
HHW and CYL conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination, conducted the statistical analyses, and drafted the manuscript; YCC supervised the study, assisted in data interpretation, and critically reviewed the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Human Subjects Approval Statement
This study was approved by the institutional review board of the College of Public Health of National Taiwan University.
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Appendices
Appendix 1: Types of Expressions of Humor Based on the Taiwan Adolescent Humor Instruments (TAHI) (Chiang et al. 2011)
Items | Exploratory factor analysis | Confirmatory factor analysis | Internal consistency | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Factor 1 | Factor 2 | Factor 3 | Factor 4 | λ | t | Standardized Cronbach’s α | |||
Self-deprecating humor | 1. | I will mock myself to show humor | 0.81 | 0.11 | 0.22 | 0.21 | 0.99 | 76.87 | 0.85 |
2. | I will vilify myself to show humor | 0.82 | 0.12 | 0.20 | 0.18 | 1.00 | – | ||
3. | I will criticize myself to show humor | 0.80 | 0.24 | 0.09 | 0.08 | 0.94 | 61.51 | ||
4. | I will tell my secrets to show humor | 0.69 | 0.20 | 0.16 | 0.17 | 0.89 | 54.94 | ||
Other-devaluing humor | 8. | I will mock others to show humor | 0.13 | 0.77 | 0.23 | 0.13 | 0.96 | 66.35 | 0.85 |
9. | I will vilify others to show humor | 0.12 | 0.84 | 0.18 | 0.10 | 1.00 | – | ||
12. | I will criticize others to show humor | 0.17 | 0.83 | 0.10 | 0.13 | 0.99 | 73.31 | ||
13. | I will tell other people’s secrets to show humor | 0.21 | 0.73 | 0.07 | 0.11 | 0.85 | 45.84 | ||
Body-language humor | 5. | I will make funny faces and actions to show humor | 0.32 | 0.02 | 0.70 | 0.35 | 0.97 | 65.79 | 0.86 |
6. | I will make strange laughing sound or voices to show humor | 0.29 | 0.09 | 0.72 | 0.28 | 0.95 | 68.37 | ||
10. | To show humor, I will imitate the moves or looks of people not present | 0.12 | 0.31 | 0.78 | 0.20 | 1.00 | – | ||
11. | To show humor, I will imitate the voices or laughs of people not present | 0.12 | 0.30 | 0.77 | 0.21 | 0.99 | 76.65 | ||
Witty-response humor | 7. | I will act stupid to show humor | 0.32 | 0.18 | 0.34 | 0.31 | 0.77 | 36.99 | 0.85 |
14. | I will tell jokes to show humor | 0.04 | 0.02 | 0.46 | 0.61 | 0.90 | 52.27 | ||
15. | I will use metaphors to show humor | 0.11 | 0.10 | 0.22 | 0.77 | 0.94 | 60.26 | ||
16. | I will put irrelevant things together to show humor | 0.18 | 0.15 | 0.19 | 0.79 | 0.99 | 70.53 | ||
17. | I will be ridiculous to show humor | 0.22 | 0.12 | 0.28 | 0.73 | 1.00 | – | ||
18. | I will use contrary thinking to show humor | 0.19 | 0.17 | 0.10 | 0.76 | 0.91 | 56.01 | ||
Cumulative proportion of the variance explained = 67.38 % | Goodness-of-fit index: (1) χ 2/df = 5.85 (2) RMSEA = 0.06 (3) GFI = 0.98 (4) AGFI = 0.98 | 0.91 |
Appendix 2: Comparison of Measurement Models for Self-Deprecating Humor
Model | Description | χ 2 | df | χ 2/df | RMSEA | CFI | IFI | NFI | NNFI | Change from Model 1 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
△χ 2 | △df | ||||||||||
Model 1 | Seven-factor model | 4378.98 | 329 | 13.31 | 0.085 | 0.96 | 0.96 | 0.95 | 0.95 | ||
Model 2 | One-factor model | 22,563.90 | 350 | 64.47 | 0.192 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0.72 | 0.70 | 18,184.92*** | 21 |
Model 3 | Two-factor modela | 18,005.32 | 349 | 51.59 | 0.172 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0.78 | 0.77 | 13,626.34*** | 20 |
Model 4 | Two-factor modelb | 22,386.74 | 349 | 64.15 | 0.192 | 0.74 | 0.74 | 0.74 | 0.72 | 18,007.76*** | 20 |
Appendix 3: Comparison of Measurement Models for Other-Devaluing Humor
Model | Description | χ 2 | df | χ 2/df | RMSEA | CFI | IFI | NFI | NNFI | Change from Model 1 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
△χ 2 | △df | ||||||||||
Model 1 | Seven-factor model | 5707.19 | 539 | 10.59 | 0.075 | 0.96 | 0.96 | 0.95 | 0.95 | ||
Model 2 | One-factor model | 38,953.49 | 560 | 69.56 | 0.200 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.69 | 33,246.30*** | 21 |
Model 3 | Two-factor modela | 32,092.08 | 559 | 57.41 | 0.181 | 0.77 | 0.77 | 0.76 | 0.75 | 26,384.89*** | 20 |
Model 4 | Two-factor modelb | 36,272.51 | 559 | 64.89 | 0.193 | 0.74 | 0.74 | 0.73 | 0.72 | 30,565.32*** | 20 |
Appendix 4: Comparison of Measurement Models for Body-language Humor
Model | Description | χ 2 | df | χ 2/df | RMSEA | CFI | IFI | NFI | NNFI | Change from Model 1 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
△χ 2 | △df | ||||||||||
Model 1 | Seven-factor model | 7722.57 | 329 | 23.47 | 0.114 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.90 | ||
Model 2 | One-factor model | 26,116.47 | 350 | 74.62 | 0.207 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 0.64 | 18,393.90*** | 21 |
Model 3 | Two-factor modela | 23,871.22 | 349 | 68.40 | 0.198 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.71 | 0.69 | 16,148.65*** | 20 |
Model 4 | Two-factor modelb | 25,384.65 | 349 | 72.74 | 0.204 | 0.69 | 0.69 | 0.69 | 0.67 | 17,662.08*** | 20 |
Appendix 5: Comparison of Measurement Models for Witty-Response Humor
Model | Description | χ 2 | df | χ 2/df | RMSEA | CFI | IFI | NFI | NNFI | Change from Model 1 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
△χ 2 | △df | ||||||||||
Model 1 | Seven-factor model | 8885.35 | 539 | 16.48 | 0.095 | 0.91 | 0.91 | 0.90 | 0.90 | ||
Model 2 | One-factor model | 15,668.28 | 560 | 27.98 | 0.125 | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0.81 | 0.80 | 6782.93*** | 21 |
Model 3 | Two-factor modela | 14,780.81 | 559 | 26.44 | 0.122 | 0.83 | 0.83 | 0.82 | 0.82 | 5895.46*** | 20 |
Model 4 | Two-factor modelb | 15,790.05 | 559 | 28.25 | 0.126 | 0.82 | 0.82 | 0.81 | 0.81 | 6904.70*** | 20 |
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Chiang, YC., Lee, CY. & Wang, HH. Effects of Classroom Humor Climate and Acceptance of Humor Messages on Adolescents’ Expressions of Humor. Child Youth Care Forum 45, 543–569 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-015-9345-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10566-015-9345-7