Introduction

The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ) is a popular 32-item scale which measures four ways in which people produce humor in interpersonal interactions, namely, affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humor styles. Few studies have, however, focused on the construct validity of the HSQ in non-western contexts and in particular the African context. This is a potentially fruitful area of research because humour is rooted in interpersonal interaction and, in turn, the expression of interpersonal interactions are heavily influenced by culture. Studies in Belgium, China, Lebanon and Italy, found general support for the validity of the HSQ.

Objectives

Previous studies mostly employed exploratory factor analysis to assess the structure of the HSQ. The few studies which used confirmatory factor analysis reported differences in fit across cultures and indicated that some items need to be adapted to improve cross-cultural validity. The present study employed confirmatory factor analysis to examine the construct validity of the HSQ among South African students.

Design/Methodology

Participants were 954 undergraduates between 18 and 46 years old (M = 20 years) (68.2% Black African, 19.1% White, 7.3% Mixed-Ethnicity and 5.3% Indian). The fit of a one-factor solution (general humour), four-factor solution (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating) and bi-factor solution (general humour and residualised affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating) was compared. Measurement invariance across gender and ethnicity was assessed.

Results

Best fit was obtained with the four-factor model, providing support for the construct validity of the HSQ subscales. Some items were found to be unsatisfactory indicators of the humor styles. Measurement invariance tests indicated support for strong invariance (equal slopes and intercepts) across gender and ethnicity.

Conclusions

This study provided support for the use of the HSQ within the multicultural South African context. Implications for the cross-cultural application of the HSQ are discussed.