humor coping, health status, and life satisfaction
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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: [email protected]
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
Humor coping, health status 443
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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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