Abstract
Self-esteem may be viewed as a gauge from which people measure their social acceptance levels; it arises out of a need to protect the individual from, especially, social factors. Perceived deficiencies in one’s relational needs may lead to social and emotional loneliness, which is a subjective and painful experience. Prior research suggests that humour can provide interpersonal signals and can assist in fostering and maintaining social relationships. Interpersonal engagement can be enhanced or marred by utilising beneficial or detrimental humour styles. Taken together humour, self-esteem, and loneliness have a predominantly social dimension attached to them, which may have beneficial or adverse effects on people’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Therefore, given the interpersonal relationships that exists between these constructs, the current study aimed to investigate whether the different humour styles: affiliative, self-enhancing, and aggressive humour styles, given their relationship to psychological wellbeing, could mediate the relationship between self-esteem and loneliness. The sample consisted of undergraduate students from a South African university who completed an online survey consisting of a biographical questionnaire, the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and the Social and Emotional Loneliness Scale (SELS). The survey was made available via the university’s online student portal. Data were analysed using SPSS and the PROCESS Macro to examine whether humour styles mediated the relationship between self-esteem and social and emotional loneliness. The interpersonally beneficial humour styles contributed to lower perceived loneliness, whereas usage of the interpersonally detrimental humour styles resulted in higher endorsement of experienced loneliness. This study found a significant indirect mediation effect between self-esteem and loneliness for the aggressive humour style. The results highlight the importance of considering how humour styles influence the relationship between self-esteem and loneliness, as this could inform the therapeutic practice.
M.A. (Clinical Psychology)