Description

The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ-32) is a widely recognized psychometric instrument developed by Martin, Puhlik-Doris, Larsen, Gray, and Weir (2003) to assess the different ways individuals use humor in everyday life. Rather than measuring a person’s sense of humor alone, the HSQ evaluates the psychological functions of humor and its impact on interpersonal relationships, emotional regulation, and overall psychological well-being. It is based on the premise that humor can be both adaptive and maladaptive, depending on how it is expressed and the purposes it serves.

The questionnaire assesses four distinct humor styles:

  • Affiliative Humor – using humor to strengthen social relationships, facilitate communication, and create a positive interpersonal atmosphere.
  • Self-Enhancing Humor – maintaining a humorous outlook on life to cope with stress, adversity, and everyday challenges.
  • Aggressive Humor – using sarcasm, ridicule, teasing, or disparaging humor at the expense of others.
  • Self-Defeating Humor – amusing others through excessive self-disparagement, self-criticism, or allowing oneself to become the target of jokes.

These four dimensions provide a comprehensive framework for understanding how humor contributes to psychological adjustment, resilience, interpersonal functioning, and emotional health.

Analysis and Use of Data

The HSQ-32 enables researchers and clinicians to examine both the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of humor. The resulting data can be analyzed to investigate individual differences in personality, coping strategies, social functioning, and mental health outcomes.

Typical statistical analyses include:

  • Descriptive statistics (means, standard deviations, frequencies, and percentile distributions).
  • Reliability assessment using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Omega.
  • Construct validation through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).
  • Convergent and discriminant validity with personality, emotional intelligence, resilience, optimism, anxiety, depression, and well-being measures.
  • Correlation analyses using Pearson’s or Spearman’s coefficients.
  • Group comparisons using independent-samples t-tests, ANOVA, MANOVA, or appropriate non-parametric procedures.
  • Multiple regression, mediation, moderation, and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to investigate predictors and mechanisms underlying humor styles.
  • Cross-cultural validation studies to examine measurement invariance across populations.

The HSQ-32 is widely applied in:

  • Personality psychology
  • Clinical and counseling psychology
  • Positive psychology research
  • Educational settings
  • Organizational psychology
  • Occupational health research
  • Cross-cultural studies
  • Mental health and well-being assessment

Objective

The primary objective of the HSQ-32 is to provide a reliable and valid assessment of how individuals use humor in their daily lives and interpersonal interactions. Rather than evaluating whether a person is humorous, the questionnaire identifies the characteristic ways humor is employed to regulate emotions, build relationships, cope with stress, or manage self-image.

More specifically, the questionnaire aims to:

  • Identify adaptive and maladaptive humor styles.
  • Examine the relationship between humor and psychological well-being.
  • Assess the role of humor in stress management and emotional regulation.
  • Investigate interpersonal communication and relationship quality.
  • Explore associations between humor, personality traits, resilience, and coping strategies.
  • Support clinical assessment and intervention planning.
  • Facilitate research on social functioning, positive psychology, and mental health.

Because humor represents an important psychological resource, the HSQ-32 has become one of the most extensively used instruments for studying the relationship between humor, psychological adjustment, and quality of life.

Scoring

The HSQ-32 consists of 32 self-report items, equally distributed across the four humor styles, with eight items assigned to each subscale. Participants respond using a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree).

Scores are calculated separately for each humor style by summing or averaging the responses to the corresponding items. Each subscale produces a score ranging from 8 to 56, with higher scores indicating greater use of the respective humor style. No overall total score is typically calculated, as each humor style represents a distinct psychological construct.

Psychometric evaluation of the HSQ commonly includes:

  • Internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Omega)
  • Test–retest reliability
  • Construct validity
  • Convergent and discriminant validity
  • Factorial validity using CFA
  • Measurement invariance across gender, age groups, and cultures
  • Item analysis and corrected item–total correlations

Higher scores on the Affiliative and Self-Enhancing subscales generally reflect more adaptive humor use and are associated with greater psychological well-being, resilience, and social adjustment. Conversely, elevated scores on the Aggressive and Self-Defeating subscales may indicate less adaptive humor patterns, often linked to interpersonal difficulties, emotional distress, or poorer psychological adjustment.

References

Martin, R. A., Puhlik-Doris, P., Larsen, G., Gray, J., & Weir, K. (2003). Individual differences in uses of humor and their relation to psychological well-being: Development of the Humor Styles Questionnaire. Journal of Research in Personality, 37(1), 48–75.

Martin, R. A. (2007). The Psychology of Humor: An Integrative Approach. Academic Press.

Heintz, S., & Ruch, W. (2019). From four to nine styles: An update on individual differences in humor. Personality and Individual Differences, 141, 7–12.

Ruch, W., Heintz, S., Platt, T., Wagner, L., & Proyer, R. T. (2018). Broadening humor: Comic styles differentially tap into temperament, character, and ability. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 6.