INVESTIGATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMOUR USE AND SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between high school students' humor usage and subjective well-being levels. For this purpose, the levels of special well-being of the participants and their use of humor, gender and school type were investigated in terms of various independent variables . The sample of the research, which is a relational survey model, consists of 329 students, 217 female and 112 male students in various high schools in Erzincan city center in 2017-2018 academic year. In the study, Personal Information Form developed by the researchers as a means of collecting data, Humor Scale in Adolescence and Adolescent Subjective Well-being Scale were used. The data were analyzed with SPSS-22 package program. In the normality test performed in the analysis of the data, nonparametric tests were used because the data were not shown to be normal distribution. The findings of the study indicated that there was no significant relationship between adolescents' use of humor and gender and school types, and between gender and subjective well-being levels; however it was found that there was a significant relationship between the subjective well-being of adolescents and school type in favor of the students of social studies high school. In addition, according to the research results, adolescents' use of humor in cognitive and psychological areas which are sub-dimensions of humor significantly predict their subjective well-being. In the light of the results obtained from the study, the effective use of humor in daily life positively affects the cognitive, social and psychological development of individuals, and it is expected that they will affect their subjective well-being levels positively. The results of the research were discussed in light of the relevant literature.