Psychological Response of a COVID-19 Pandemic on Yarmouk University Students and its Relationship to Humor Styles

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the difference in the level of the psychological response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the difference in the level of practice of each type of humor among Yarmouk University students according to gender, and the predictability of humor patterns in the level of the psychological response to the COVID-19 pandemic among Yarmouk University students. Method: The present study adopted the descriptive and correlated approach, which examines the relationship between variables. The study sample consisted of 626 students (227 males, 399 females) from Yarmouk University, selected using a convenient sampling method. To achieve the study objectives, the study used Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), in addition to Humor Styles Scale. Result: The study results revealed that the level of psychological response of the COVID-19 pandemic on Yarmouk University students was moderate. The study showed a statistically significant difference in the impact level of the COVID-19 pandemic on Yarmouk University students attributed to gender, in favor of males. The study also showed that the level of practicing adaptive humor style ranked first, then self-enhancement humor style with moderate level, followed by aggressive humor style, and finally self-defeat humor style with low level. Additionally, the results indicated a statistically significant difference in the level of humor styles attributed to gender, in favor of females in adaptive humor style, and favor of males in aggressive humor style. Furthermore, the study revealed that adaptive humor style and aggressive humor style have the predictive ability in the psychological response level of the COVID-19 pandemic, as adaptive humor style accounted for 12.6% of the total variance, while aggressive humor style accounted for 8.7% of the total variance. Conclusion: Males are more affected by the Coronavirus pandemic than females, students are generally more likely to practice familial humor and self-promotion humor than aggressive humor and self-defeat humor, females are more likely to practice communal humor, while males are more likely to practice aggressive humor, the more likely the student is to practice familial humor, the lower he has the level of negative response to the Coronavirus pandemic, and the more likely he is to practice aggressive humor, the higher he has the level of negative response to the Coronavirus pandemic.