Humor
LASA filenames:
LASA111 / LASA311
Contact: Dorly Deeg
Background
Humor has been regarded as an adaptive coping mechanism by several psychological theorists. Freud regarded humor as “ the highest of defensive processes” (Freud, 1960). Humor can have a stress buffering effect; the mood of people with a greater sense of humor is less adversely affected by stressful experiences (Martin and Lefcourt, 1983; Martin, 1996).
Measurement instrument in LASA
The Coping Humor Scale is a self-report scale that assesses the degree to which respondents report using humor to cope with stress. It is a 5-item scale with statements such as “ I often found that my problems have been greatly reduced when I tried to find something funny in them”. Respondents are instructed to rate the degree to which they agree or disagree with each item on a 5-point Likert-type scale (5=totally agree; 1=totally disagree).
The Coping humor Scale was administered in waves B and D.
Scale construction
The total score is computed by summing the items (Martin and Lefcourt, 1983). Thus, a minimum score of 5 indicates the most negative coping with humour behaviour and a scale of 25 the most positive. No missing items were allowed. Thus, if one or more items were missing, no scale score was computed.
Questionnaires
LASAB111 / LASAD111 (self-administered questionnaire, in Dutch)
Variable information
LASAB111 / LASAD111;
LASAB311 / LASAD311 (scale scores)
(pdf)
Availability of information per wave ¹
| B | C | D | E | 2B* | F | G | H | 3B* | MB* | I | J | K | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humor | Sa | - | Sa | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
¹ More information about the LASA data collection waves is available here.
* 2B=baseline second cohort;
3B=baseline third cohort;
MB=migrants: baseline first cohort
Sa=data collected in self-administered questionnaire
Previous use in LASA
This variable is not yet used in a publication.
References
- Freud, S. Jokes and their relation to the unconscious. New York: Norton, 1960.
- Martin, R. A. & Lefcourt, H.M. Sense of humor as a moderator of the relation between Stressors and moods (1983). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 45, 1313-1324.
- Martin, R.A. The Situational Humor Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) and Coping Humor Scale (CHS): A decade of research findings (1996). International Journal of Humor Research. Volume 9, Issue 3-4, 251–272.
Date of last update: December, 2019
