Humor styles and loneliness: a study among Hong Kong and Hangzhou undergraduates.

This study examined the relationship between humor styles and loneliness among a sample of Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese. A total of 159 Hong Kong undergraduates and 178 Hangzhou undergraduates were recruited to complete a survey composed of the Humor Styles Questionnaire and the Emotional and Social Loneliness Scales. Multiple regression analyses showed that self-defeating humor explained significant variance in both social and emotional loneliness for Hong Kong students, but only in social loneliness for Hangzhou students. Hong Kong students scored significantly higher on aggressive humor and self-defeating humor, and scored significantly lower on affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor than did their counterparts in Hangzhou. This could be attributed to the greater influence of Confucianism in Mainland China than in Hong Kong.