Relationship between Optimism, Humor and Coping Self-Efficacy in University Students

Abstract

The life of university students is crucial, as they start to become more independent from their family and older adults. They also have to figure out how to handle all the responsibilities that come with being an adult. The burden of responsibilities can lead to stress, and how an individual copes varies greatly, with each person employing unique strategies to manage. The purpose of this research study was to investigate the relationship between Optimism, Humor and Coping Self- Efficacy (CSE) among university students belonging to the age group of 18- 28 years. 235 students participated in this study amongst which were 49.4% males and 50.6% females. Three instruments were used to measure the study variables i.e. Revised Life Orientation Test (LOT-R), Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) having subscales i.e. Affiliative humor (AF), Self-Enhancing humor (SE), Aggressive humor (AG), Self-defeating humor (SD) and Coping Self- Efficacy Scale (CSE) with its subscales i.e. Problem Focused coping (PF), Emotional Focused coping (EF) and social support (SS). The relationship between optimism, self- enhancing, coping self-efficacy, problem focused and emotional focused was found to be positively significant. Affiliative humor had significant positive relationship with self-enhancing humor, aggressive humor, self-defeating humor and social support. similarly, self-enhancing humor shows a positive significant relationship with aggressive humor, self-defeating humor, coping self-efficacy, problem focused, social support, emotional focused coping. Moreover, aggressive humor had a significant positive relationship with self-defeating humor and self-defeating humor had a negative significant relationship with coping, problem focused, social support, emotional focused coping. Furthermore, the findings also determined that optimism, self-enhancing humor, positively and significantly predict coping self-efficacy, problem focused and emotional focused coping, and self-defeating humor negatively and significantly predict coping self-efficacy, problem focused and emotional focused coping. Also, affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor positively and significantly predicted social support coping. A significant gender difference was found where males use more self-enhancing humor, aggressive humor, and self-defeating humor than females. This study highlighted the importance of optimism, humor and coping self-efficacy among students, aiming to enrich existing literature on the study. Building on this, interventions could be designed to target optimism and humor, with a focus to enhance them, and to promote positive coping mechanisms. Such interventions could serve as a valuable foundation for future , fostering a deeper understanding of effective strategies for managing stress and responsibilities