How does gratitude affect the relationship between positive humor styles and suicide-related outcomes?

•Affiliative humor was not directly related to suicidal ideation.•Self-enhancing humor was not directly related to suicidal ideation.•Affiliative humor was negatively related to suicidal ideation through gratitude.•Self-enhancing humor was not indirectly related to suicidal ideation via gratitude.

Gratitude and positive humor styles may be important protective factors against suicide ideation that are rarely investigated. This study investigated whether positive humor styles influence the experience of suicide ideation and the identification of reasons for living through levels of gratitude. Participants (N = 166) were undergraduate students oversampled for recent suicidal ideation. They completed self-report measures of affiliative and self-enhancing humor, tendency to experience thoughts and feelings of gratitude, reasons for living, and suicide ideation in the previous two weeks. A multiple-mediator model indicated that affiliative, but not self-enhancing humor indirectly reduced risk for suicidal ideation through gratitude. Clinical implications are discussed.