title: Adult Playfulness, Humor Styles, and Subjective Happiness.
abstract: Playfulness has been referred to as a disposition that involves reframing a situation to amuse others and to make the situation more stimulating and enjoyable. It may serve to shift one's perspective when dealing with environmental threats. Despite all the benefits of playfulness towards psychological well-being, it remains a largely understudied subject in psychology, particularly in Chinese societies. Hence, this study examined the association between adult playfulness, humor styles, and subjective happiness among a sample of 166 university students in Hong Kong and 159 students in Guangzhou, who completed a self-administered questionnaire, including the Short Measure for Adult Playfulness, the Chinese Humor Styles Questionnaire, and the Subjective Happiness Scale. Results showed that adult playfulness was positively correlated with affiliative humor, self-enhancing humor, and subjective happiness in both Hong Kong and Guangzhou samples. By its implication, highly playful Chinese students preferred using affiliative and self-enhancing humor to amuse themselves and others.
authors: Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong xiaodong.yue@cityu.edu.hk.
authors: Xiao D
authors: XD
authors: Yue
authors: City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors: Chun-Lok
authors: CL
authors: Leung
authors: City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
authors: Neelam A
authors: NA
authors: Hiranandani
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002681:China / Q000208:ethnology; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings / Q000523:psychology*; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D014495:Universities; D014925:Wit and Humor as Topic / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Chinese use of humor; Playfulness; humor styles; subjective happiness