The Funny Papers: An Examination of Children's Sense of Humor, Peer Acceptance, and Friendships

 
 
 
 

The Funny Papers: An Examination of Children's Sense of Humor, Peer Acceptance, and Friendships

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Title: The Funny Papers: An Examination of Children's Sense of Humor, Peer Acceptance, and Friendships
Author: Oberjohn, Karen Solveig
Description: Successful peer relations are widely recognized as crucial in the development of social competence. Two indicators of peer relations, peer acceptance and friendship, have been associated with positive emotional and behavioral outcomes. A good sense of humor and teasing behavior are two types of social behavior that may influence peer acceptance and friendship. Humor is thought to facilitate opportunities for group membership, allow children to combat embarrassment, and provide a tool for navigating social situations. Such skills are likely to contribute positively to peer acceptance and the establishment of friendships. Conversely, humor can be used for aggressive purposes, such as amusing some while disparaging others. Such teasing behavior may hinder peer acceptance and friendships.The current study examined the associations of children’s sense of humor and teasing behavior with their level of overall peer acceptance (Like Ratings) and number of friendships (Best Friend Nominations). The data provided by the participants represented observations of 278 children, including 102 fourth grade children and 176 fifth grade children. Sense of humor and teasing behavior were measured via peer nominations on class play roles, peer acceptance by peer nominations on a like rating scale, and friendship by total number of best-friend nominations. It was hypothesized that sense of humor would be positively associated with peer acceptance and number of friendships, and that teasing behavior would be negatively associated with peer acceptance and number of friendships. It was also hypothesized that an interaction would be found indicating that teasing would be more strongly associated with lower acceptance and fewer friends the less often peers see them as having a good sense of humor, but teasing would be less strongly associated with lower levels of peer acceptance and friendships the more often peers see them as having a good sense of humor.These data suggest that sense of humor is related to social competence as measured by both peer acceptance and friendships. Future work should focus on more comprehensive definitions and measurement of humor and teasing behavior, as well as other social outcomes that may be influenced by these social behaviors.
Permanent Link: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1037908432
http://hdl.handle.net/2374.OX/9358
Date: 2002

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