The relationship between sense of humor and coping strategies

The purpose of this study was to investigate (a) the relationship between s ense of humor and different coping strategies and (b) the differences betwe en male and female university students' different coping strategies as a fu nction of sense of humor. Coping Styles Inventory (CSI) and Situational Hum or Response Questionnaire (SHRQ) were administered to 255 (138 Women, 117 M en) university students who volunteered to participate in the study. Signif icant correlation coefficients were found between optimistic and self-confi dent subscales of The CSI and the SHRQ scores of the students. The results of a 2 (high vs, low sense of humor) X 2 (gender) MANOVA employed to the co ping style scores of the students showed significant main effects for sense of humor and gender. The results indicated that students with a high sense of humor seemed to prefer more optimistic and self-confident styles than t hose with a low sense of humor. The results concerning gender differences a lso revealed that females seemed to prefer helpless coping style and males tended To use optimistic coping style. Results revealed no significant sens e of humor-gender interaction effect.