Gender differences in the use of humor in intimate relationships and marital adjustment.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in the use of positive, instrumental, and negative humor and to see if husbands' and wives' use of three types of humor were related to marital adjustment. In addition, the relationship between spouses' perceptions of their partners' use of humor and marital adjustment was examined. Forty-five married couples volunteered to participate in this correlational study and completed the following paper and pencil surveys: the Relationship Humor Inventory, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Coping Humor Scale, and the Situational Humor Response Questionnaire. As predicted, the study found a significant positive correlation between the self-reported use of positive humor and marital adjustment for both husbands and wives. In addition, a significant difference was found between husbands who perceived their wives' use of humor as primarily positive and husbands who perceived their wives' use of humor as primarily instrumental or negative. For wives, a non-significant trend was found regarding their perception of their husbands' use of positive humor. No significant gender differences were found between husbands and wives' self-reported use of the three types of humor. The lack of other significant findings was likely due to the small, non-representative sample. Limitations of the study and suggestions for future research are discussed.