Relationships between humorism profiles and psychological well-being

• Humor types were found to be related to psychological well-being.
• An association between humor types and feelings of independence was found.
• Humor types differed for self-determination levels.

The present study investigated which patterns of humor styles exist and if distinct combinations of humor styles differ in psychological well-being levels. The Italian adaptations of the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) and the Psychological Well-Being Scale (RPWB) were administered to 244 Italian students. Through k-means clustering three clusters were identified: (1) average score on self-defeating style and below average scores on the other styles; (2) above average scores on the beneficial styles (affiliative and self-enhancing humor) and below average scores on the detrimental styles (aggressive and self-defeating humor); (3) above average scores on each of the humor styles. Humor types were found to be related to psychological well-being, with members of Cluster 2 and Cluster 3 reporting higher levels in each RPWB than members of Cluster 1. Moreover, members of Cluster 2 reported higher levels on all well-being dimensions, when compared to members of the other two clusters. Theoretical and research implications of the findings are discussed.