Humor styles moderate the association between health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease

Chronic disease leads to death, disability, and costs. Humor has been studied as an emotion-focused way of coping with chronic disease; however, it is unclear whether type of humor used moderates the relationship between health difficulties and quality of life. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationships between four types of humor (i.e., affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating humor), health difficulties and quality of life in individuals diagnosed with a chronic disease (n = 195; mean age = 34.14, SD = 9.06; 56.7% male; 74.1% White/European American) using a cross-sectional, correlational design. Utilizing hierarchical multiple regression and controlling for demographic and lifestyle variables, four humor styles (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating) moderated the relationships between health difficulties and quality of life. As health difficulties increased, greater use of self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humor was associated with greater quality of life, while affiliative humor was associated with lower quality of life. Clinical and research applications that implement humor as a coping strategy may help to decrease the burden of living with a chronic disease.