The Role of Humor as a Coping Mechanism in Managing Health Anxiety

Abstract

Amid rising concerns about health anxiety in young adults, understanding adaptive coping mechanisms such as Humor is increasingly important. This study examined the relationship between self-enhancing Humor and health anxiety, and its variation across age and gender within the Indian population. A total of 205 participants aged 18–31 were categorized into three age groups: 18–21 years, 22–25 years, and 26–31 years. A cross-sectional design was used, employing the Short Health Anxiety Inventory (SHAI) and the Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ). Spearman’s rank-order correlation indicated a weak, non-significant negative correlation between Humor and health anxiety (rₛ = –.084, p > .05, N = 205). Gender comparisons using the Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference in Humor use (U = 5119.00, p > .05). However, a Kruskal-Wallis H test revealed a significant difference across age groups (χ²(2) = 7.51, p < .05), with participants aged 22–25 reporting the highest Humor use. The research indicated that self-enhancing humor in and of itself may not uniformly reduce health anxiety, as there were variations observed across gender and age groups. This implies that there are several other factors such as individual and demographic differences, that need to be considered when designing mental health interventions. While humor can be a helpful coping tool for some, it may not be equally effective for all. Although limited as a single strategy, humor has promise for use in youth mental health programs as an aid to assisting resilience and emotional health in young adults. This suggests age-specific patterns in coping preferences.