Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between humour styles, perceived stress, self-efficacy, gender and age. A 109 self-selecting participants took part in this online correlational study, 31 males and 78 females. A Google-document permalink gave access to the questionnaire booklet. Analysis showed that greater reports of self-defeating humour correlated with greater perceived stress and greater use of self-enhancing humour correlated with lower levels of perceived stress. Greater engagement with affiliative and self-enhancing humour correlated with greater levels of self-efficacy. Males reported a greater engagement with aggressive humour, and the youngest age group reported a greater engagement with affiliative and aggressive humour. Additional analysis showed that self-efficacy, self-defeating and self-enhancing humour together predicted 30% of the variance in perceived stress. It was therefore concluded that humour styles correlate with stress and self-efficacy, and that there is a difference between the genders and age on humour styles. Author keywords: Humour styles, stress, self-efficacy, age, gender
