Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 3 Sep 2013 |
| Event | 16th European Conference on Developmental Psychology - University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland Duration: 3 Sep 2013 → 7 Sep 2013 |
Conference
| Conference | 16th European Conference on Developmental Psychology |
|---|---|
| Country | Switzerland |
| City | Lausanne |
| Period | 3/09/13 → 7/09/13 |
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Keywords
- peer-victimization
- adaptive humour styles
- maladaptive humour styles
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Reciprocity between humour and peer victimization. / Fox, Claire; Hunter, Simon C.; Jones, Sian.
2013. Paper presented at 16th European Conference on Developmental Psychology, Lausanne, Switzerland.Research output: Contribution to conference › Paper
TY - CONF
T1 - Reciprocity between humour and peer victimization
AU - Fox, Claire
AU - Hunter, Simon C.
AU - Jones, Sian
PY - 2013/9/3
Y1 - 2013/9/3
N2 - Peer-victimization is a serious social difficulty for many young people, and involves complex interpersonal and group dynamics. Humor can strengthen and develop relationships, but is likely to require a supportive interpersonal and social context for positive forms to develop. Peer-victimization endangers such development, and provides a useful context within which to evaluate humor development. Among adolescents (Fox et al., in press) there are four main humor styles, two are adaptive (affiliative and self-enhancing) and two are maladaptive (aggressive and self-defeating). Klein and Kuiper (2006) theorized that victimized children have fewer peer-interaction opportunities and so may be disadvantaged with respect to the development of adaptive humor styles. They further suggested that victims may internalize bullies’ negative comments, leading to a self-defeating humor style. Furthermore, self-defeating humor is considered to reflect an underlying neediness and low self-esteem. Given that low self-regard has been identified as a risk factor for peer-victimization (Egan & Perry, 1998), a vicious circle between self-defeating humor and peer-victimization may develop. The present study applied a cross-lagged panel design to begin disentangling directionality in the relationships between humor and victimization. Overall, 1,235 young people aged 11-13 years from six secondary schools in England provided self-reports of direct and indirect victimization, and of their humor styles. These were completed at the beginning and end of the school year. Using AMOS 20.0, a full cross-lagged model was tested. The model displayed acceptable fit, CMIN/DF = 2.040, CFI = .907, RMSEA = .029. Indirect victimization was found to predict an increase in young people’s use of self-defeating humor. Humor did impact upon later victimization with self-defeating humor leading to an increase in both direct and indirect peer victimization. The implications of these results for theory relating to humor and victimization are discussed.
AB - Peer-victimization is a serious social difficulty for many young people, and involves complex interpersonal and group dynamics. Humor can strengthen and develop relationships, but is likely to require a supportive interpersonal and social context for positive forms to develop. Peer-victimization endangers such development, and provides a useful context within which to evaluate humor development. Among adolescents (Fox et al., in press) there are four main humor styles, two are adaptive (affiliative and self-enhancing) and two are maladaptive (aggressive and self-defeating). Klein and Kuiper (2006) theorized that victimized children have fewer peer-interaction opportunities and so may be disadvantaged with respect to the development of adaptive humor styles. They further suggested that victims may internalize bullies’ negative comments, leading to a self-defeating humor style. Furthermore, self-defeating humor is considered to reflect an underlying neediness and low self-esteem. Given that low self-regard has been identified as a risk factor for peer-victimization (Egan & Perry, 1998), a vicious circle between self-defeating humor and peer-victimization may develop. The present study applied a cross-lagged panel design to begin disentangling directionality in the relationships between humor and victimization. Overall, 1,235 young people aged 11-13 years from six secondary schools in England provided self-reports of direct and indirect victimization, and of their humor styles. These were completed at the beginning and end of the school year. Using AMOS 20.0, a full cross-lagged model was tested. The model displayed acceptable fit, CMIN/DF = 2.040, CFI = .907, RMSEA = .029. Indirect victimization was found to predict an increase in young people’s use of self-defeating humor. Humor did impact upon later victimization with self-defeating humor leading to an increase in both direct and indirect peer victimization. The implications of these results for theory relating to humor and victimization are discussed.
KW - peer-victimization
KW - adaptive humour styles
KW - maladaptive humour styles
UR - http://www3.unil.ch/wpmu/ecdp2013/
M3 - Paper
ER -