| In recent years researchers have begun to examine the use of humor in coping with stress, and several researchers have suggested that humor and coping are related. The present study examined the relationship between humor and coping with stress and proposed the Humor-Coping Model as an explanation for the relationship. The model proposed that: (a) the likelihood to use humor in coping with stress is a significant predictor of the perception of stress and (b) positive reappraisal, emotional distancing, and egotistic attributions are significant predictors of the likelihood of using humor in coping with stress. Participants (N = 180) were undergraduate students enrolled in physical education classes at the University of Georgia who completed a battery of six instruments designed to measure variables in the Humor-Coping Model. Results confirmed a small but significant relationship between humor and coping with stress, but not all of the relationships in the Humor-Coping Model were statistically significant. A revised Humor-Coping Model was proposed, and future research is encouraged to examine ways to enhance the HumorCoping Model to add to the understanding of how people use humor to cope with stress. |
