The relationship between peer victimization and children's humor styles: it's no laughing matter!

This study assessed the concurrent and prospective (fall to spring) associations between peer victimization and four humor styles, two of which are adaptive (affiliative and self-enhancing) and two maladaptive (aggressive and self-defeating). Participants were 1,234 adolescents (48% female) aged 11-13 years, drawn from six secondary schools in England. Self- and peer-reports of peer victimization were collected, as were self-reports of humor styles. In cross-sectional analyses, peer victimization was associated with all four humor styles, most strongly with self-defeating and affiliative humor. Across the school year, peer victimization predicted an increase in self-defeating humor and a decrease in affiliative humor (and vice-versa). These results have implications for models of humor development and how it is related to? the continuity of peer victimization.