A pilot study on individual differences in humor style and their associations with self-rated physical health and blood pressure

Humor style, defined as the use and function of humor, may have implications for health. Indeed, research suggests certain humor styles are related to better mental health, but surprisingly little research assesses associations with physical health. Further, no studies assess both positive and negative humor styles as they relate to physical health.

The current study, therefore, investigated associations between positive (affiliative, self-enhancing) and negative (aggressive, self-defeating) humor styles and indices of physical health, specifically self-rated physical health and blood pressure. Secondary analysis on an existing dataset was conducted in which participants (N = 143, 77.6% women, mean age = 18.92) attended a laboratory session during which time we assessed individual differences in humor styles using the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). Resting blood pressure and self-rated health were assessed as indicators of physical health, followed by health-relevant covariates (depressive symptoms, body mass index (BMI), smoking status, prescription medication) and demographics.

To test primary hypotheses, data was analyzed using Pearson and Bayesian correlations followed by hierarchical linear and Bayesian multiple regressions. Positive humor styles were not related to self-rated health or resting blood pressure. However, negative humor styles were both related to higher resting blood pressure such that use of more aggressive and self-defeating humor was related to higher resting systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Negative humor styles each accounted for additional variance in resting systolic blood pressure above and beyond BMI, suggesting the combination of negative humor styles might be particularly influential. Negative humor styles relate to higher resting blood pressure, suggesting individual differences in the use of humor may be another psychosocial risk factor for the development of hypertension. Future research is needed to investigate pathways linking humor styles with physical health and confirm the causal direction, as well as to establish clinical significance of the findings given the young, healthy sample.

The Eight-Item Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, 92120, USA Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, USA The authors declare no competing interests. The study was approved by the San Diego State University Institutional Review Board (protocol number HS−2024−0150).

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