Humor as a character strength among the elderly: empirical findings on age-related changes and its contribution to satisfaction with life

Abstract

Background: Positive psychology studies what is best in people. In their classification of strengths and virtues, Peterson and Seligman [11] assign humor to the virtue of transcendence. Thus far, there is no specific study that deals with age-related changes in humor (as a strength of character) across a lifespan and its relation to well-being in the elderly.

Participants and methods: A total of n=42,964 participants completed an online questionnaire on humor as a strength of character. Participants also completed the Satisfaction with Life Scale and the Orientations to Happiness Scale.

Results: In a cross-sectional design, the scores for humor decreased until the age of 50. Men between 51 and 62 years had higher scores; there was a trend for women older than 70 to score higher (but this was not statistically significant). Humor was robustly positively correlated with life satisfaction, as well with a pleasurable and an engaged life, but was lowest with a meaningful life. The oldest participants had the lowest (yet still meaningful) correlation coefficients (with the exception of a meaningful life).

Conclusion: The study contributes to the understanding of humor across the lifespan and underlines the importance of studies among the elderly within a framework of positive psychology.