Humor Styles and Creative Dispositions: A Study among 550 Undergraduates in China

This study examines the relationship between mental health, humor styles and dispositional optimism in Chinese society. 300 undergraduates (119 males, 181 females) in Hong Kong and 500 undergraduates (136 males, 364 females) in Huhehot in Mainland China participated in this study. They were required to complete The Humor Styles Questionnair (CHSQ), The Symptom Checklist-90-R (SCL-90-R) and Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R). They were also required to rate on importance of humor, self humor, and life satisfaction. The result showed that Hong Kong and the Mainland students mostly used affiliative humor but rarely used self-defeating humor. Hong Kong students used more hostile humor while the Mainland students used more self-enhancing humor. Hong Kong and the Mainland students with high optimism used less hostile and self-defeating humor than that those with low optimism. The Mainland students with high optimism used more affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor than those with low optimism. Both optimism and mental health were positively correlated with affiliative and self-enhancing humor but are negatively correlated with hostile humor and self-defeating humor. Both sexes did not perceive themselves as being humorous, but they all considered humor as being highly important in life. Compared with less healthier students, healthier students used more affiliative, self-enhancing humor and used less hostile and self-defeating humor. The cultural and educational implications of the study are discussed at the end of the paper.