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Humor coping, health status, and life satisfactionamong older adults residing in assisted livingfacilitiesB. G. Celso , D. J. Ebener & E. J. Burkheada Florida State University, Florida, USA

Available online: 12 Jul 2010

To cite this article: B. G. Celso , D. J. Ebener & E. J. Burkhead (2003): Humor coping, health status, and life satisfactionamong older adults residing in assisted living facilities , Aging & Mental Health, 7:6, 438-445

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ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Humor coping, health status, and life satisfaction among older adultsresiding in assisted living facilities

B. G. CELSO, D. J. EBENER & E. J. BURKHEAD

Florida State University, Florida, USA

AbstractThe present study examined the relationships between humor coping, health status, and life satisfaction among olderresidents of assisted living facilities. A structural equation model with latent variables was specified for the three variables.Health status was expected to directly affect humor coping and life satisfaction. Humor coping was hypothesized to havea direct association with life satisfaction and indirectly affect the relationship between health status and life satisfaction.Participants completed the Multidimensional Functional Assessment Questionnaire, Coping Humor Scale, and LifeSatisfaction Index A. The relationships between health status and humor coping and health status and life satisfaction werestatistically significant. Both the direct association of humor coping on life satisfaction and the intervening role betweenhealth status and life satisfaction were not supported. Humor as a coping strategy seems to be available to older adults whoare in better health.

Introduction

Humor often involves a paradox that cannot be

logically reconciled. A cognitive theory of humor con-

sidered a humorous response the resolution between

what was expected and what actually occurred.

Williams (1986) stated a cognitive shift was required

to bring resolution to such incongruent information.

Resolution also helped reduce any associated tension.

Growing old may also be conceptualized in terms of

a paradox. For example, retirement offers more time

for leisure activities but health problems or physical

limitations may reduce a person’s ability to participate

in those activities. Perhaps, the same means to

appreciate humor can be applied to the paradox of

aging. The cognitive shift required to comprehend

humor may provide a mechanism to also assist in

the aging process, particularly for the elderly.

Humor provided older adults with a positive means

to cope with age-related loss (Simon, 1988). Pfeifer

(1993) discovered that the stress-moderating effect

of humor was prevalent well into old age. The older

adults who used humor regularly demonstrated

lower psychological distress. Thus, older adults

may have learned over time to efficiently integrate

their sense of humor to cope with life stresses

(Pfeifer, 1993). Humor was also considered a

mature strategy to regulate emotional distress when

changing a problematic situation was not possible.

Folkman et al., (1987) found that older people who

interpreted stressful events as less controllable

instead attempted to relieve distressing feelings.

With humor, the elderly were able to distance

themselves from the source of stress by finding

amusing distractions in adversity.

There may be a link between the use of humor and

living longer. Yoder and Haude (1995) found that

a positive relationship existed between humor

appreciation and longevity. Humor appears to pro-

vide many physiological benefits. The studies of

physiological response to humor have indicated

positive effects on circulatory, respiratory, muscular,

and nervous systems (Fry, 1986). The benefits of

humor also seem applicable to psychological well-

being. Humor was shown to reduce self-reported

levels of anxiety (Yovetich, Dale & Hudak, 1990).

Therefore, humor is likely to be instrumental in both

physical and psychological well-being.

Limited research, however, exists on the benefits

of humor with the institutionalized elderly. Of the

studies with nursing home residents (e.g., McGuire &

Boyd, 1993; McGuire, Boyd, & James 1992) humor

Correspondence to: Brian G. Celso, PhD, University of Florida Surgeons at Melbourne, 1317 Oak Street, Suite 200,Melbourne, FL 32901, USA. Tel: þ1 (321) 434 8509. Fax: þ1 (321) 434 8939. E-mail: Brian.Celso@health-first.org

Received for publication 21st November 2002. Accepted 11th March 2003.

Aging & Mental Health, November 2003; 7(6): 438–445

ISSN 1360–7863 print/ISSN 1364–6915 online/03/060438–08 � Taylor & Francis LtdDOI: 10.1080/13607860310001594691

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was found to be an effective means by which older

adults improved their sense of happiness and satisfac-

tion with life. The promotion of humor appeared to

simultaneously result in the re-engagement of retire-

ment residents with others in the facility (McGuire,

Boyd & James, 1992; Prerost, 1993). Humor has

even been used to reduce the possibility of depressed

elderly from committing suicide. When approached

with sensitivity, humor can be life affirming, increase

closeness, require interaction with others, and reduce

stress (Richman, 1995). Finally, the use of humor

was suggested as a means to assist older adults adapt

to nursing home placement (Burkhead, Ebener &

Marini, 1996).

Nahemow (1986) stated that the inclusion of

humor in studies of older adults has much potential

as humor helps give a positive meaning to the aging

process. Humor appears to have therapeutic value as

a coping mechanism for stressful situations that

are experienced by institutionalized elders (Simon,

1988; Sullivan & Deane, 1988). The promotion of

humor seems to enhance the resident’s quality of

life. Simon (1988) found humor was positively

related to perceived health and morale among

nursing home residents. Clearly, there is evidence

to suggest that humor is an important and relevant

topic to investigate in a study of institutionalized

older adults. The present research examined the use

of humor coping as a strategy to deal with diminished

health and life satisfaction among assisted living

facility (ALF) residents.

Method

A structural equation model (SEM) with latent

variables was specified that examined the relation-

ships between humor coping, health status, and life

satisfaction. Health status consisted of three factors:

subjective health perceptions, satisfaction dimen-

sions of mental health, and physical activities of

daily living (ADL). Life satisfaction included the

factors: mood tone, zest for life, and congruence.

The model of the hypothesized structure for the

three variables used to analyze the data is presented

in Figure 1. The rational for all paths shown in the

model are:

. A positive relationship between health status and

life satisfaction was expected.

. Perception of better health status was expected to

positively influence the use of humor to cope with

stressful situations.

. The use of humor as a coping strategy was

hypothesized to also have a positive impact on life

satisfaction.

. Finally, humor coping was hypothesized to indi-

rectly affect the relationship between health status

and life satisfaction. Life satisfaction was expected

to increase when an individual used humor to cope

with a diminished state of health.

Participants

A sample of convenience was secured by soliciting

volunteers recruited from ALFs in the northeast

Florida area. The sample consisted of 211 elderly

residents. There were 35 men (16.6%), 145 women

(68.7%), with 31 participants (14.7 %) not reporting

gender. The average age of the participants was

80.77 years, SD 7.70. Approximately 93% of the

sample identified themselves as White, 6.2% identi-

fied themselves as Black, and 0.5% reported their

ethnicity as Other. The majority of the participants

(62%) were widowed; 8%, single; 12%, married; and

14%, divorced. Twenty nine percent had obtained

a high school education with nearly half of the

participants (45%) having attended college. A large

percentage (84%) reported having adequate money

each month for living expenses. Over half of the

sample (54%) noted frequent contact with family

and were pleased with that contact.

Instruments

The present study included four instruments: (1)

a demographic questionnaire; (2) a modified version

of the Multidimensional Functional Assessment

Questionnaire; (3) the Coping Humor Scale; and

(4) a modified version of the Life Satisfaction

Index A.

Demographic questionnaire. The demographic infor-

mation sheet, developed by the first author, is an

11-item questionnaire that includes questions regard-

ing age, gender, race, education, income level, and

social support.

The OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment

Questionnaire. The Older Americans Resources and

-0.07 0.41*

0.86*

Humor Coping

Life Health

FIG. 1. Hypothesized structural model with structuralcoefficients for the latent variables. *Statistically significant(t ratios >2).

Humor coping, health status 439

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Services [OARS] Program at Duke University

developed a questionnaire to measure the func-

tional status and use of services by older adults. The

OARS Multidimensional Functional Assessment

Questionnaire (OMFAQ) was designed for the

purpose of evaluating the frail elderly and finding

alternatives to institutionalization (Pfeiffer, 1975).

The OMFAQ has demonstrated satisfactory reliabil-

ity and validity as an assessment of functional status.

The modified version of the OMFAQ used to assess

health status in this study consists of 14 items.

Individual items are endorsed on either a four-point

scale or three-point scale. The reliability of three

sections from Part A of the OMFAQ, physical and

mental health, and self-care capacity, were assessed

by the test-retest method. Identical agreement

among the items was found 90.7% of the time over

an average interval of five weeks (Fillenbaum &

Smyer, 1981). The ratings of administrators were

shown to remain highly consistent over a period of 12

to 18 months. Criterion validity was established by

comparing the scores from the OMFAQ to ratings by

qualified health professionals. Fillenbaum (1988)

found Spearman’s rank order correlations of 0.82 for

physical health, 0.67 for mental health, and 0.89 for

self-care capacity. For the present study, OMFAQ

items from physical health identified as the ‘factor

subjective health perceptions’ included four items

measuring poor to optimal physical health. The

factor used from mental health was labeled ‘satisfac-

tion dimensions of mental health’. This factor

contained four items for poor to optimal mental

well-being. Finally, the factor from self-care capacity

identified as ‘physical ADL’ consisted of six items to

measure limited to independent functioning. From

this sample the internal consistency reliability coeffi-

cients for subjective health perceptions, satisfaction

dimensions of mental health, and physical ADL

were 0.65, 0.64, and 0.81, respectively.

The Coping Humor Scale. The Coping Humor Scale

(CHS) by Martin and Lefcourt (1983) is a seven-

item Likert format questionnaire developed to assess

the use of humor as a means to cope with stressful

experiences. Martin and Lefcourt (1983) showed

an internal consistency reliability of 0.61, and inter-

item correlations that ranged from 0.11 to 0.54.

Convergent validity measures of the CHS with other

humor instruments, two subscales of the Sense of

Humor Questionnaire (SHQ), produced correlations

of 0.51 and 0.33. The CHS and Situational Humor

Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) revealed a correla-

tion coefficient of 0.37. Participants who produced

higher scores on the CHS also indicated lower

mood disturbance (Martin & Lefcourt, 1983) and

reported lower degrees of experienced stress (Trice &

Price-Greathouse, 1986). Cronbach’s coefficient

alpha for the Coping Humor Scale was 0.65 from

the present sample.

The Life Satisfaction Index A. The Life Satisfaction

Index A (LSIA) by Neugarten, Havighurst and

Tobin (1961) was constructed as part of a larger

study. The LSIA is composed of 20 statements, with

which the respondent either agrees or disagrees.

Five distinct components of life satisfaction emerged

from the study: zest versus apathy; resolution

and fortitude; congruence; positive self-concept;

and mood tone. The measure of life satisfaction

demonstrated greater reliability for persons over the

age of 65 (Neugarten, Havighurst, & Tobin, 1961).

The LSIA was factor analyzed by Adams (1969)

to confirm the five components of life satisfaction

underlying the structure of the LSIA. The first factor

explained the majority of the variance, 34%, indicat-

ing that the LSIA has one main factor, most likely life

satisfaction (Adams, 1969). Factor rotation revealed

four clear factors of mood tone, zest, congruence,

and resolution and fortitude. The fifth factor, self-

concept, was not supported after rotation. Liang

(1984) investigated the dimensionality of the 18-item

LSIA proposed by Adams using confirmatory factor

analysis. Three of the four factors were identified to

form the underlying structure of life satisfaction:

mood tone, zest for life, and congruence. The factor

loadings ranged from 0.669 to 0.998 (Liang, 1984).

The modified LSIA recommended by Liang (1984)

was considered the best format for the present study.

The internal consistency reliability of the 11-item

LSIA from this sample was 0.70. The respondent is

required to answer the questions by marking the

‘agree’, ‘disagree’, or ‘uncertain’ option. The scoring

method suggested by Wood, Wylie and Sheafor

(1969) that affirmative responses receive a value

of two, negative responses are scored as zero, and

uncertain responses obtain a value of one, was used.

Procedure

Prior to conducting the present study, approval

was obtained from the Florida State University

Institutional Review Board for research involving

human subjects. The Institutional Review Board

insures the ethical treatment of all the research

participants. Assisted living facilities in the north-

east section of Florida were contacted to obtain

permission to survey their residents. The sites were

contacted in alphabetical order from the directory of

all ALFs in the state of Florida. The directors of all

institutions were contacted by phone and asked

permission for access to the residents. If a director

refused access, the next ALF in the directory was

called. A letter was sent to all the facility directors

who agreed to participate in this study explaining

the purpose of the study and requesting formal

permission to solicit volunteers.

The activity directors of those ALFs that granted

permission to survey residents were contacted

by phone and asked to organize a group activity to

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distribute the four questionnaires used in the present

study. Volunteers aged 65 and above were then

solicited through the help of the activity directors.

Either the primary researcher, two of his assistants

trained to administer the surveys, or the activity

director who was also instructed on the correct

administration of the instruments collected the data

for this study. Questionnaire packets provided to all

activity directors included a cover letter that ex-

plained the procedure for conducting the study and

instructions for the participants. This process helped

ensure consistency in the administration of the

research materials. The study was scheduled and

conducted as a group activity for the residents. The

four instruments used in this study were counterbal-

anced in order to eliminate any order effects that

might threaten the internal validity of the study.

Although humor has a cognitive component,

assessment of cognitive status was not a part of the

present study. The selection criterion for participants

was that they must be capable of completing the

questionnaires without assistance. The activity direc-

tor screened all volunteers for appropriateness and

eliminated those with apparent cognitive deficits. In

this way, residents with severe cognitive impairment

were prevented from taking part in the research.

Parmelee, Katz and Lawton (1989) found that even

cognitively impaired institutionalized elderly did

respond to self-report questionnaires in a logical

and consistent manner. Nonetheless, the cognitive

abilities of the participants in this study were not

assessed.

Each questionnaire was numbered for tracking

purposes as no names appeared on any forms to

ensure confidentiality. All participants of this study

were read an informed consent form before complet-

ing the questionnaires. The informed consent form

stated that participation is voluntary, confidential,

and that the participants have the right to withdraw

from the study at any time. A standardized set of

instructions was then read prior to the participants

completing the self-reports. The questionnaires were

self-administered in a group format. After all the

participants finished, the instruments were collected

and a debriefing statement read explaining in greater

detail the purpose of the study. A contact name,

address and phone number was provided each

participant if any questions should arise.

Results

Preliminary analysis

The correlations, means, standard deviations, and

ranges for the nine observed variables, physical

health, emotional health, physical ADL, humor

coping, mood tone, zest for life, and congruence,

are provided in Table 1. All of the correlations were

in the expected positive direction and of modest

strength. Most of the indicators presented distribu-

tions that departed from normality, with skew values

approximately �2 to �3. The kurtosis values for

physical ADL, mood tone, and zest for life were 4.3,

�6.8, and �2.8, respectively. The violations to

normality in the sample data were not viewed as

problematic. Maximum likelihood (ML) is com-

monly viewed as being robust to moderate violations

of the normality assumption (Chou & Bentler,

1995).

Structural equation model with latent variables

The LISREL 8 program (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1993)

was used to estimate parameters and ML was used

as the estimation method for both the hypothesized

measurement and structural models. A confirmatory

factor analysis (CFA) was performed on the mea-

surement model that comprised the two variables

with multiple indicators, health status and life

satisfaction. The remaining single indicator latent

variable, humor coping was included in the struc-

tural model for analysis. The parameter estimates

were expressed in terms of the variances and

co-variances of the observed variables. A summary

of the model fit indices was presented in Table 2.

Measurement model. An initial test of the mea-

surement model resulted in less than desirable fit

TABLE 1. Variable correlations, means and standard deviationsa

PH EH ADL HR MD ZT CG

PH 1.00EH 0.520** 1.00ADL 1.00 0.091 1.00HR 0.180* 0.385** 0.047 1.00MD 0.360** 0.405** 0.066 0.158* 1.00ZT 0.330* 0.487** 0.205** 0.225** 0.438** 1.00CG 0.281** 0.267** 0.038 0.145* 0.413** 0.253** 1.00Mean 8.13 8.48 16.78 19.65 2.60 4.85 5.66SD 1.83 1.75 2.05 4.20 1.91 2.21 2.41Range 4–12 4–12 7–18 7–28 0–6 0–8 0–8

PH, physical health; EH, emotional health; ADL, physical ADL; HR, humor; MD, mood tone; ZT, zest for life; CG, congruence;an¼211;*p<0.05; **p<0.01.

Humor coping, health status 441

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indices. The chi square statistic used to test the

overall fit of model, (�2¼ 21.34, df¼ 8, p¼ 0.006),

resulted in a rejection of the null hypothesis. The

ratio between the chi-square and degrees of freedom

was relatively small at less than three. The root mean

square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.09 was

above the 0.08 value recognized as the upper limit for

acceptable fit. Furthermore, the associated p value

(p¼ 0.07) for the RMSEA was more than the 0.05

for the null test of close fit. The goodness of fit index

(GFI) of 0.97, adjusted goodness of fit index (AGFI)

of 0.91, and the normed fit index (NFI) of 0.90 were

all near the accepted value of 0.9 that indicate an

adequate fit. Two residuals between the observed

and implied co-variances were above the value of 2.5.

The initial model was revised by allowing the

measurement errors between the variables emotional

health and mood tone to correlate. An error

covariance between the variables emotional health

and mood tone resulted in a decrease in the overall

chi square statistic of 16.4. The need for the error

covariance represents a missing factor between

emotional health and mood tone. This modification

seems defensible in that there is likely to be shared

error in reports of emotion and mood. Still, the

covariance specified between error terms suggests

that a number of items from the two scales were

redundant. Thus, there may be both conceptual and

measurement indistinctness between the two vari-

ables. The revised CFA results indicated the fit of the

hypothesized model to the data was reasonable. A fail

to reject decision was achieved, (�2¼ 11.05, df¼ 7,

p¼ 0.136). Furthermore, the ratio of the chi square

statistic to degrees of freedom was acceptable at

approximately 1.5. The RMSEA of 0.05 is the

recognized value that identifies a reasonable fit, as

was the associated p value (p¼ 0.41) for the RMSEA

that led to a desired fail to reject decision. Three

other summary fit indices provided additional sup-

port of correct fit. The GFI of 0.98 and AGFI of 0.95

were above the recognized value of 0.9 as indicating

an adequate fit. Finally, the NFI that has a range of 0

to 1 with larger values indicating a better fit was 0.95.

The error variance of the single indicator humor

coping was specified for the identification of the

measurement model. The error variance was com-

puted based on the reliability reported for the Coping

Humor Scale. Thus, the error variance for coping

with humor was 0.243. The results of the full SEM

model were as follows.

SEM model for latent variables. The SEM results

support a reasonable fit of the hypothesized struc-

tural model to the observed data. The overall chi

square test led to a reject decision, (�2¼ 23.4,

df¼ 11, p¼ 0.02) that was likely due to the suffi-

ciently large sample size to reject the model and does

not necessarily suggest the model was not a good fit

of the data. The ratio of the chi square statistic to

degrees of freedom was acceptable (approximately

2.1). The RMSEA of 0.07 was less than the value of

0.08 that has been identified as the upper limit for a

reasonable fit. The associated p value (p¼ 0.16) for

the null that RMSEA<0.05 did lead to a fail to reject

decision. Three other summary fit indices, the GFI

of 0.97, AGFI of 0.924, and the NFI of 0.918, were

all adequate compared to the common rule of good

fit for these indices of 0.9.

Measurement model results. The estimated standard-

ized factor loadings and variable reliabilities (R2

values) for the latent variables with multiple indica-

tors (health status, and life satisfaction) are provided

in Table 3. The size of the loadings ranged from

0.195 to 0.846. All the loadings were positive and

statistically significant at the 0.01 level. The loadings

were also of comparable magnitude except for

physical ADL. The reliabilities of the indicators to

determine how well they measure their respective

latent variables ranged from 0.038 to 0.0716 and

were all statistically significant. Again, although

the reliability for physical ADL was significant, it

only represents approximately 4% shared variance

between the variable and factor.

TABLE 2. Goodness of fit indices for measurement and structural models

Model �2 p df p �2/df GFI AGFI NFI RMSEA

Measurement modelInitial 21.34 8 0.006 2.67 0.97 0.91 0.90 0.09 0.07Revised 11.05 7 0.13 1.58 0.98 0.95 0.95 0.05 0.41Structural equation modelFull SEM 23.40 11 0.02 2.13 0.97 0.92 0.92 0.07 0.16

GFI, goodness of fit index; AGFI, adjusted goodness of fit index; NFI, normed fit index; RMSEA, root mean square error of approximation.

TABLE 3. Measurement model estimates

Factor/variable Standardized loadinga R2

Health statusPH 0.605 0.366EH 0.846 0.716ADL 0.195 0.038Life satisfactionMD 0.719 0.517ZT 0.641 0.411CG 0.466 0.217

The model includes a non-significant negative correlation betweenEH and MD. The structural model also contains a latent variablemeasured by a single indicator. Identification was obtained byfixing the error variance based on the known reliability. PH,physical health; EH, emotional health; ADL, physical ADL; MD,mood tone; ZT, zest for life; CG, congruence. aAll loadings werestatistically significant at p<0.01.

442 B. G. Celso et al.

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Structural model results. Figure 1 provides the stan-

dardized structural coefficients for the parameters

estimated by the hypothesized model. Two of the

direct effects were in the expected direction and

statistically significant (t values greater than 2

obtained by dividing the parameter estimate by its

standard error). The strongest relationship, health

status on life satisfaction (effect¼ 0.865), was theo-

retically credible. The more one’s health was per-

ceived as better, there was an expected increase in

reported life satisfaction. The association of health

status on humor coping was positive, statistically

significant, and at 0.412 was modest in magnitude.

The relationship between humor coping and life

satisfaction was negative which was not predicted

by the hypothesized model and did not achieve

significance. Table 4 contains the correlations for all

the latent variables in the present study. The corre-

lations were all in the expected directions that were

hypothesized in the structural model. The quite

strong correlation between health status and life

satisfaction was consistent with past research.

However, this may indicate that the conceptual

distinction between the two variables were not

supported by the data. In particular, emotional

health and life satisfaction has been related. In fact,

life satisfaction may even be considered an indicator

of emotional health.

Discussion

The present research investigated the relationships

between the variables humor coping, health status,

and life satisfaction. It was hypothesized that humor

coping was one means of intervening between

diminished health status and satisfaction with life.

There is support for the use of humor as an effective

method to reduce the stresses associated with grow-

ing older (e.g., McGuire & Boyd, 1993; Thorson &

Powell, 1993). Physical, emotional, and functional

limitations may, however, interfere with older adults’

ability to remain satisfied for all of their years. The

expectation that humor would provide a means of

coping with diminished health in the report of life

satisfaction was not substantiated by the participants

of this research.

The strong association between participants’ per-

ceived health and life satisfaction has been consis-

tently replicated throughout the literature (e.g.,

Larson, 1978; Palmore & Luikart, 1972). Healthier

older adults reported greater life satisfaction than

the less healthy elderly. Among the observed

indicators used to measure health status, emotional

health was highly correlated to the latent factor.

Evidently, emotional well-being was the principle

guide for determining health for the participants of

this study. It appears the evaluation of health was

based more on how the person was feeling emotion-

ally rather than managing physically. The indicator

physical ADL performed poorly as a measure of

health status. As the sample was predominately

independent in self-care, the high level of indepen-

dence may have artificially underestimated the

importance of self-care in determining a person’s

health.

The relationship between humor coping and life

satisfaction was negligible compared to the strong

association between health status and satisfaction

with life. Unfortunately, the strength of the associ-

ation between health status on life satisfaction seems

to have left little remaining variance to share with

uses of humor. Health status did produce a

significant positive influence on humor coping. The

use of humor as a coping strategy seems to be

available to older adults who remained in good

health. As with health status, emotional health had

the strongest association with humor coping. A

correlation of 0.385 was significant at the 0.01 level

(see Table 1). Again, how well off a person was

emotionally seems to have best determined their use

of humor to cope.

The lack of a significant result on the mediating

role of humor between health status and life satisfac-

tion was similar to Safranek and Schill’s (1982)

finding that humor use and humor appreciation did

not significantly improve the negative effect of life

stress. Similarly, the research of Porterfield (1987)

indicated that humor did not have a moderating

role between negative life events and well-being.

Likewise, Anderson and Arnoult (1989) also found

that high degrees of coping with humor did not

increase reported levels of wellness when confronted

by stress. Humor appears to be independent of

the events that occur in life. The use of humor as a

coping strategy seems available to relieve the stress of

negative life events. However, a realistic assessment

of one’s life situation needs to also be considered.

Humor coping does not change the nature of a

permanent and distressing situation and therefore

would not improve an appraisal of satisfaction

with life.

Humor did not provide a protective role between

a person’s health status and life satisfaction. Perhaps

the present sample used other strategies to cope with

adversity not addressed in the present study. The

type of coping strategy used was found to vary and

often depended on the specifics of the situation

(Folkman et al., 1986; McCrae, 1982). Improving

one’s quality of life was dependent upon whether the

coping strategy used either alleviated or increased the

current level of stress. Humor as a coping strategy

TABLE 4. Latent variable correlations

Healthstatus

Humorcoping

Lifesatisfaction

Health status 1.000Humor coping 0.412 1.000Life satisfaction 0.834 0.282 1.000

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was often used to either avoid thinking about

pressing demands or to reappraise threats (McCrae,

1984). A potential downfall with humor coping is

that in an attempt to reduce the emotional impact

created by adversity no direct action is taken for

change to occur.

Implications for practice

Based on the findings of the above research, the

healthy older adults from northeast Florida who

reside in ALFs find humor useful to cope with life

problems. These healthy elderly may have learned an

important lesson about adjusting to life circumstances

that could be passed on to older adults experiencing

difficulties. Therapists, then, have available a life

affirming treatment approach by presenting a humor-

ous outlook to negative events. The use of humor

was related to the emotional health of the elderly.

Encouraging older adults to maintain a sense of

humor as a treatment approach for adjusting to

diminished health or functioning may be beneficial

to their emotional well-being. Humor, however,

should only be offered in a sensitive and caring

manner as older clients might not appreciate the

use of humor when dealing with distressing personal

issues.

Limitations

The above results were limited in scope by several

factors. First, only participants age 65 or above

obtained from ALFs in the northeast Florida area

were included in this study. Second, this study

consisted of a sample of convenience secured by

soliciting volunteers from ALFs that agreed to allow

access to their residents. There might be important

distinctions between the ALFs that provided access to

their residents from those that declined. Third,

differences between the residents that agreed to

participate verses those that chose not to were

unexplored. The frailest residents were unable to

participate in the present study due to physical and

cognitive limitations. Thus, their perceptions of life

satisfaction or means to cope with diminished health

were not assessed. Fourth, the cross-sectional nature

of the method was insufficient to determine any

differences that might occur over time with changes in

health and uses of humor coping or life satisfaction.

Future studies

The Coping Humor Scale appears to have been a

fairly reliable measure of humor as a coping strategy.

One-dimensional measures of humor, however, have

been considered insufficient to accurately measure

humor (Thorson & Powell, 1991). Martin and

Lefcourt (1983) suggest the use of three instruments

that measure different aspects of the construct, sense

of humor. Each aspect of humor was found to

provide unique contributions to the stress moderat-

ing effect. Perhaps another variable such as sense

of humor that was not included in the present

study could provide additional understanding of the

relationship between humor and life satisfaction.

Also, humor comprises a cognitive component

(Schaier & Cicirelli, 1976). A future study should

include multidimensional measures of humor along

with an evaluation of cognitive functioning to exam-

ine any change in humor with advanced age.

The particular style of coping utilized by older

adults may either help or hinder their ability to

deal effectively with adversity. Burgess, Morris and

Pettingale (1988) differentiated four broad coping

styles: positive-confronting, fatalistic, hopeless-

helpless, and denial/avoidance. For example, Carver

et al., (1993) found humor in combination with an

accepting or positive-confronting coping style pro-

duced less distress among women with breast cancer.

Future studies may benefit from the inclusion of

different types of coping styles in addition to

humor for investigation. Finally, most studies on

life satisfaction were conducted on older adults who

reside in the community (George, 1986). The study

of differences on humor coping between older

persons living at ALFs and those in the community

to include individuals with more physical limitations

is suggested.

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on the doctoral dissertation of the

first author and was presented at The Alliance for

Rehabilitation Counseling conference ‘Unity through

Diversity’ in St. Louis, MO, Oct. 26–29, 2001.

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