By Claire Fox 1 , Simon Hunter 2 , Lucy James 1 and Hayley Gilman 1

1. SchoolBullying and Humour: Is Laughter the Best Medicine? By Claire Fox1, Simon Hunter2, Lucy James1 and Hayley Gilman1 1Keele University, 2University of Strathclyde Contact: c.fox@psy.keele.ac.uk • Background • The child Humour Styles Questionnaire (child HSQ) was developed by Fox, Dean and Lyford (2011) for children aged 11-16 years. Based on the adult HSQ (Martin et al., 2003) it assumes that humour can be adaptive and maladaptive with four sub-scales measuring different styles of humour: Affiliative, Aggressive, Self-enhancing and Self-defeating (see Box 1). • Much stronger correlations between humour andpsychological adjustment have been found when using the HSQ compared to previous research; this may be because prior studies used measures that did not distinguish between adaptive and maladaptive forms (Martin et al. 2003): • Affiliative and self-enhancing humour are typically found to be negatively correlated with anxiety and depression and positively correlated with self-esteem. • In contrast, self-defeating humour is associated with high levels of anxiety and depression and with low self-esteem (Kuiper et al. 2004; Martin et al. 2003). • Studies have found that aggressive humour is not associated with psychological adjustment but is strongly negatively correlated with social adjustment measures (e.g. Kuiper et al. 2004; Yip & Martin 2006). • However, longitudinal research is clearly needed to disentangle the causal pathways. • Klein and Kuiper (2006) theorised about the links between humour styles and children’s peer relationships: • Children who are bullied have much less opportunity to interact with their peers and so are at a disadvantage with respect to the development of humour competence. Thus, they may not be able to use either of the two adaptive humour styles very effectively. • Children may gravitate towards the use of self-defeating humour, perhaps as a way of improving their relationships with others. Perhaps they internalise the comments of the bullies, which are then reflected in their self-defeating humour? This reflects an underlying neediness and low self-esteem which could put them at further risk of being bullies. • This research is a first step towards examining these relationships. Results (cont.) Peer victimisation and psychosocial adjustment • The three types of peer victimisation were used in three regression models to predict depression, then self-esteem and loneliness. Gender was entered first on step 1 as a control variable and the three types of victimisation were then entered on step 2. • The models for depression and self-esteem were not significant. For loneliness the only significant predictor to emerge was verbal victimisation (R2 = .07, p < .05; R2 Δ = .06, p < .05; verbal β = .23, p < .05). Humour styles and psychosocial adjustment • The four humour styles were then used to predict depression, then self-esteem and loneliness after gender was controlled for on step 1. • Affiliative, self-enhancing and self-defeating humour were found to predict self-esteem (R2 = .26, p < .001; R2 Δ = .24, p < .001; Aff β = .23, p < .01; Self-en β = .15, p < .05; SD β = -.35, p < .001) and depression (R2 = .22, p < .001; R2 Δ = .18, p < .001; Aff β = -.17, p < .05; Self-en β = -.17, p < .05; SD β = .34, p < .001). • Affiliative and self-defeating humour were also found to predict loneliness (R2 = .35, p < .001; R2 Δ = .33, p < .001; Aff β = -.17, p < .05; SD β = .53, p < .001). Method • 215 year 7 and year 8 children (mean age = 12.33, SD = .59) completed the measures on a whole class basis (122 male and 93 female). • Measures: • Child HSQ: 24 items with 6 items per sub-scale. Children were asked to indicate on a 4 point scale the level of their agreement (from SD to SA), e.g. If I am feeling sad I can cheer myself up by thinking of funny things. • The 10 item self-report Children’s Depression Inventory – short form (Kovacs & Beck, 1977). • The four-item, self-report Loneliness and Social Satisfaction scale (Asheret al., 1984; Rotenberget al., 2005). • Rosenberg’s (1965) 10-item, self-report self-esteem measure for adolescents and adults. • As used in previous research (e.g. Björkqvistet al., 1992) children were asked to nominate each classmate who ‘gets called nasty names by other children’ (verbal), ‘gets hit, kicked and pushed around by other children’ (physical), ‘gets left out of the group by other children’ and ‘has nasty rumours spread about them’ (social). The same items were used to assess bullying behaviour. For each child, percentage scores were calculated based on the percentage of children who had nominated. This was to assess verbal, physical and relational/indirect victimisation and bullying. Results Peer victimisation and humour styles • Table 1 shows that after gender is controlled for, verbal victimisation negatively predicts use of aggressive humour. • All three types of victimisation together negatively predict use of affiliative humour. • Verbal victimisation predicts use of self-defeating humour. • Box 1: Humour Styles • Adaptive: • Affiliative - making other people laugh. Reducing interpersonal tension. Enhancing social relationships. • Self-enhancing - used to enhance own moods and coping. Not detrimental to others • Maladaptive: • Self-defeating - making others laugh at your own expense. • Aggressive - at the expense of others. Thought to be beneficial in short term but detrimental in the long term. Conclusions • As predicted, links were identified between children’s humour styles and different types of peer victimisation and between children’s humour styles and psychosocial adjustment. • This pilot study forms the basis of a larger longitudinal study funded by the ESRC commencing shortly involving approximately 900 school children. • Longitudinal research is clearly needed to shed light on the issue of cause and effect. We propose bi-directional relationships between peer victimisation and children’s humour styles. • Furthermore, we propose that certain humour styles may act as mediators of the effects of peer victimisation on psychological wellbeing, while others may moderate such effects. Table 1 Summary of Hierarchical Regression Analyses for Three Types of Peer Victimisation Predicting each Humour Style • Aims/Hypotheses • To examine the links between children’s humour styles and different types of peer victimisation: • Peer victimisation will predict increases in self-defeating humour. • Peer victimisation will predict decreases in affiliative and self-enhancing humour. • To examine the links between children’s humour styles and their psychosocial adjustment. • Self-defeating humour will predict increases in depression and loneliness and lowered self-esteem. • Affiliative and self-enhancing humour will predict decreases in depression and loneliness and higher self-esteem. • Key References • Fox, C. L., Dean, S. Lyford, K. (re-submitted). Development of a humor styles questionnaire for children and young people. Submitted to Humor. • Klein, D.N., & Kuiper, N.A. (2006). Humor styles, peer relationships, and bullying in middle childhood. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research, 19(4), 383-404. • Martin, R.A., Phulik-Doris, P., Larsen G., Gray, J.,& Weir K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humour and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the humor styles questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 48-75. • * p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001.