Relationship between Humour Styles, Optimism and Self Esteem

Humour is the essence of life. It is a special part of one’s life that often rules one’s memories and shapes and defines the individual. This study aimed at finding the relationship between humour style, optimism and self esteem among college students (18 – 25 years) who have finished their schooling and are entering adulthood while learning to be independent. The study investigates to which extent the four humour styles (Affiliative, Self enhancing, Aggressive & Self defeating) are associated with optimism and self esteem and also to find out the significant difference in the variables, among male and female students. Questionnaires were distributed online to males and females (n= 108). A cross sectional research design which comprised of college students (males= 46, females= 62) was adopted. The tools used were HSQ- humour styles questionnaire (Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, & Weir, 2003); LOT-R – life orientation test- revised (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) and self esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965). Pearson product moment correlation was used to find out the significant relationship between the variables. Independent ’t’- tests was used to compare male and female samples pertaining to the variables. The results and findings have been discussed in the article.