Humor and happiness in spanish university students
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Abstract
One question to be resolved is whether people who make good use of humor are happier. The present study evaluated the use of humor and happiness in university students (N=721), analyzing these two variables and the relationship between both constructs. The results of the study showed that university students are moderately happy and the styles of humor they use are: affiliative, self-improvement, aggressive and self-destructive, in that order. Regarding the relationship between both constructs, correlations were found between happiness and positive styles of humor (affiliative and self-improvement), however, it did not correlate with aggressive and self-destructive styles (negative uses of humor). Other results were that men use humor more, both in their positive and negative styles; and that positive and negative styles of humor function independently of each other. Two conclusions can be drawn from the data of our study: 1) it shows a profile of moderately happy college students, who make greater use of positive humor styles; and 2) the results showed the relationship between happiness and a use of positive humor.
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