Exploring the relationship between coping humor and subjective happiness:belongingness and forgiveness as serial mediators

Abstract

health psychology report • volume 8(3),  original article background Positive psychology plays an important role in strengthening mental health. Nevertheless, the relationships between variables have not been clarified yet. The present study used an undergraduate sample to test a mediation-based model of the cross-sectional association of coping humor with subjective happiness, as serially mediated by belongingness and forgiveness. participants and procedure A total of 306 valid participants (51.6% female and 48.4% male), ranging in age from 18 to 26, completed paper and pencil questionnaires assessing subjective happiness, coping humor, belongingness, and forgiveness. The bootstrapping procedure was used for serial mediation. results The results indicated a significant and positive link among subjective happiness, coping humor, belongingness, and forgiveness. In addition, serial mediation analysis revealed that coping humor was associated with higher belongingness, which was associated with increased forgiveness, which were then associated with more subjective happiness. Therefore, coping humor was indirectly associated with more subjective happiness via belongingness and forgiveness, in a serial fashion. conclusions These findings indicated that coping humor could help university students' belongingness, and improve forgiveness, thereby enhancing their subjective happiness. We suggest possible prevention and intervention programs for increasing subjective happiness among individuals with low coping humor and suggest courses for future inquiry. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

“Better If They Laugh with Me than at Me”: The Role of Humor in Coping with Obesity-Related Stigma in Women

“…Humor can serve to reduce tension and release repressed energy [43][44][45]. Humor and laughter can regulate one's psychophysical balance, leading to reduced tension and psychosomatic problems, while also increase psychological well-being, and reduce chronic pain and stress [46][47][48]; it is also associated with one's sense of happiness and even the ability to forgive [49]. Humor may facilitate the breaking of stereotypes about people who are ill or have some condition, such as obesity [50], and may even help to reduce stigmatization in case of revealing mental problems [51]; it can help to cope with loneliness [52], influence one's mood when confronting negative stimuli [53], and increase one's adaptive abilities in the face of stress at work [54].…”

Nonverbal Immediacy Mediates the Relationship Between Interpersonal Motives and Belongingness

“…This constitutes an important contribution to research on belongingness and research on non-verbal immediacy as it highlights the importance of focusing on temporal factors, which have often not been examined in these fields. First, research on belongingness has mostly focused on static individual factors such as personality (Seidman, 2013 ), passion (Stenseng et al, 2015 ), and humor (Satici, 2020 ). The non-verbal immediacy—belongingness relationship clearly highlights the dynamic nature of belongingness.…”

Moderating Role of Social Connectedness on Forgiveness and Subjective Happiness Among Adults

“…The study of B. Satici (2020) have explored the relationship between coping humor and subjective happiness with the mediating role of forgiveness and belongingness. The study used a sample of undergraduates to test a mediation-based model of cross-sectional association of coping humor with subjective happiness mediated by the forgiveness and belongingness.…”