Study from UK: Self-disparaging humor associated with being bullied

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/05/130501090657.htm

May 1, 2013 — There is a clear link between children's use of humour and their susceptibility to being bullied by their peers, according to a major new study released today by Keele University.

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The findings reveal that children who use self-defeating forms of humour -- eg. self-disparaging language / putting themselves down to make other people laugh -- are more likely to be bullied than those who use more positive forms of humour. The study also found that peer victimisation led to an increase in the use of self-defeating humour over time, showing that victims of bullying are often trapped in a vicious cycle, where being bullied deprives them of the opportunities to practice positive humour with peers and leads them to rely on self-defeating humour, perhaps as a way to get others to like them.

Dr Claire Fox, lead researcher from Keele University, said, "What our study shows is that humour clearly plays an important role in how children interact with one another and that children who use humour to make fun of themselves are at more risk of being bullied. We know that this negative use of humour is a nurtured behavior, influenced by a child's social environment rather than genetics. This makes the behaviour easier to change, so we hope the next step for this study is to see whether it is possible to 'teach' children how to use humour to enhance their resilience and encourage them to not use negative forms of humour."

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