Lonely people tend to make fun of themselves: A behavior genetic analysis of humor styles and loneliness

Julie Aitken Schermer; Rod A Martin; Philip A Vernon; Nicholas G Martin; Lucia Colodro Conde; Dixie J Statham; Michael T Lynskey

doi:10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.042

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Lonely people tend to make fun of themselves: A behavior genetic analysis of humor styles and loneliness

Journal article

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Lonely people tend to make fun of themselves: A behavior genetic analysis of humor styles and loneliness

Julie Aitken Schermer, Rod A Martin, Philip A Vernon, Nicholas G Martin, Lucia Colodro Conde, Dixie J Statham and Michael T Lynskey

Personality and Individual Differences, Vol.117, pp.71-73

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.042

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Abstract

humor

loneliness

twins

behavior genetics

The present study examined the phenotypic, genetic, and environmental correlations between four humor styles (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating) and loneliness in Australian adult twins. At the phenotypic level, the two adaptive humor style dimensions (affiliative and self-enhancing) were found to correlate negatively with loneliness and the two maladaptive humor style dimensions (aggressive and self-defeating) were found to have positive correlations with loneliness. Because both humor and loneliness were found to be heritable (ranging from 7% for loneliness to 35% for self-defeating humor style), bivariate genetic analyses were conducted. Significant genetic and unique environmental correlations were found between loneliness and humor styles with the exception of aggressive humor. These results indicate that the phenotypic association between loneliness and humor style arises from the influence of shared familial and unique environmental factors.

Details

Title: Lonely people tend to make fun of themselves: A behavior genetic analysis of humor styles and loneliness
Authors: Julie Aitken Schermer (Author) - University of Western Ontario, Canada
Rod A Martin (Author) - University of Western Ontario, Canada
Philip A Vernon (Author) - University of Western Ontario, Canada
Nicholas G Martin (Author) - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Lucia Colodro Conde (Author) - QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute
Dixie J Statham (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast - Faculty of Arts, Business and Law
Michael T Lynskey (Author) - King's College London, United Kingdom
Publication details: Personality and Individual Differences, Vol.117, pp.71-73
Publisher: Pergamon
Date published: 2017
DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.042
ISSN: 0191-8869
Organisation Unit: School of Social Sciences - Legacy; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99450469802621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Psychology, Social