Humor Assessment Questionnaire [HSQ-32]

Scale Analysis

The Humor Assessment Questionnaire (Humor Styles Questionnaire [HSQ-32]) was developed by Martin and his colleagues to measure individual differences in humor styles. Humor is an essential part of our lives and an important means of coping with stressful events. It is generally believed that the use of humor is almost exclusively associated with positive effects on health and psychological well-being.

Purpose of the Scale

The purpose of the Humor Assessment Questionnaire is to study people’s humor and its relationship with their psychological health and well-being. Humor styles are divided into four dimensions, two of which are considered beneficial to psychological well-being, while the other two can be harmful. The beneficial styles include self-enhancing humor, which is used to maintain self-esteem and cope with stress, and affiliative humor, which is used to improve group relationships. The harmful styles include aggressive humor, which is based on demeaning others, and self-defeating humor, which is used as a defensive denial to hide negative emotions.

Question Scoring

Participants are asked to respond to how they experience humor through 32 questions using a 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Statistical Analysis

Scoring is based on how individuals express humor in order to evaluate indirect aspects of their personality. The scale yields an overall score ranging from 0 to 100, with higher values indicating greater resilience.

Validity & Reliability

The Humor Assessment Questionnaire has been adapted to the Greek language using the process of independent back-translation. Testing the scale both in the general population and in clinical samples showed good internal and temporal consistency (Cronbach’s α = 0.72), as well as good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.73).