Humor Styles Moderate the Relationship Between Rumination and Mental Health in Community Residents

Abstract

The present study investigated how humor styles moderate the associations between rumination and mental health (depressive symptoms, satisfaction with life, and positive mental health) in community residents. Participants ( N = 382) were assessed with the Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-scale). Hayes’ PROCESS macro revealed that rumination had a direct effect on depressive symptoms and was moderated by affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor, and aggressive humor, respectively. The relationship between rumination and satisfaction with life was moderated by self-enhancing humor, aggressive humor, and self-defeating humor, respectively. Affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor, and aggressive humor were moderators in the relation between rumination and positive mental health. This study revealed that different humor styles have varying impacts between rumination and mental health. It is crucial for healthcare professionals to promote the importance of using adaptive humor styles to improve mental health.