The Impact of Humor Styles on Perceived Stress Among Young Adults in Pakistan

The current paper analyzed the correlation between humor styles and perceived stress in Pakistani students participating in university education, where academic and social stress is extremely high. The study employed a quantitative and cross-sectional research design in which 350 respondents aged between 16 and 33 years (M = 23.7, SD = 2.9) completed the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale. Pearson correlation showed that affiliative humor (r = –.39, p < .001) and self-enhancing humor (r = –.39, p < .001) were associated with lower perceived stress. Aggressive humor had a low negative correlation with stress (r = –.18, p = .001), and self-defeating humor showed no significant correlation with perceived stress (r = .04, p = .446). Hierarchical multiple regression showed that affiliative humor (β = –.21, p < .001), self-enhancing humor (β = –.33, p < .001), and self-defeating humor (β = .14, p = .005) significantly predicted perceived stress after demographic factors were statistically controlled. The aggressive humor did not contribute a lot as a predictor in the regression model. This evidence suggests that adaptive humor might be viewed as a defense mechanism, and self-defeating humor might be a factor in stress given the appropriate conditions (controlling other variables). The results propose that humor-based interventions can be effective in campus wellness programs as an economical, culturally intuitively influential intervention in achieving student mental health.