Psychiatry Research 249 (2017) 337342

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Psychiatry Research
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/psychres

Humor styles moderate borderline personality traits and suicide ideation MARK
a a a b a
Neil A. Meyer , Ashley C. Helle , Raymond P. Tucker , Gregory J. Lengel , Hilary L. DeShong ,

LaRicka R. Wingatea, Stephanie N. Mullins-Sweatta,
a
Department of Psychology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States
b
Department of Psychology, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa, United States

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: The way individuals use humor to interact interpersonally has been associated with general personality,
Humor depression, and suicidality. Certain humor styles may moderate the risk for suicide ideation (SI) in individuals
Suicide ideation who are high in specic risk factors (e.g., thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness). Previous
Maladaptive personality research suggests a relationship between humor styles and borderline personality disorder (BPD) and an
Borderline personality disorder
increased risk of suicidality and suicide completion in individuals with BPD. Participants (n =176) completed
measures of BPD traits, SI, and humor styles. It was hypothesized that BPD traits would be positively correlated
with negative humor styles and negatively correlated with positive humor styles, and that humor styles would
signicantly moderate BPD traits and SI. Results showed that BPD traits were negatively correlated with self-
enhancing humor styles and positively correlated with self-defeating humor styles, but that they were not
signicantly correlated with aliative or aggressive humor styles. Bootstrapping analyses demonstrated that the
aliative, self-enhancing, and self-defeating humor styles signicantly moderated BPD traits and SI, while the
aggressive humor style did not.

1. Introduction 1.1. Humor styles and psychological well-being

Recent research demonstrates that the way an individual uses A growing body of research has demonstrated that the HS's are
humor may play an important role in psychological adjustment. At dierentially linked to mental health symptoms and indicators of psycho-
present, most research has focused on four humor styles (HS's) that logical adjustment. For example, aliative and self-enhancing humor are
were derived through factor analyses (Martin et al., 2003). Over a negatively related to important aspects of psychological disturbances, such
decade of empirical investigation has illustrated the eects of two as levels of stress, loneliness, shyness, symptoms of Major Depressive
positive HS's (self-enhancing and aliative) and two negative HS's Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), interpersonal
(self-defeating and aggressive). Aliative humor helps to create and predictors of suicide, and suicide ideation (SI; Cann et al., 2010; Fitts
maintain interpersonal connections, which incorporates entertaining et al., 2009; Martin et al., 2003; Tucker et al., 2013a, 2013b). However,
others through humor to facilitate strong social bonds, whereas self- these two positive HS's are also associated with increased life satisfaction
enhancing involves using humor to cope with stressful, distressing and happiness (Dyck and Holtzman, 2013; Ford et al., 2014). Increased use
events by maintaining a positive outlook on life. Individuals who of aggressive humor has been linked to greater levels of hostile aggression
endorse aggressive HS's use demeaning humor in an eort to reinforce and engagement in risky behaviors and decreased social competence and
oneself to the detriment of others. Finally, self-defeating is the use of relationship satisfaction (Cann and Cann, 2013; Martin and Dutrizac, 2004;
self-disparaging humor regarding one's perceived weaknesses and Yip and Martin, 2006). The use of self-defeating humor may be particularly
aws, and is often used in an eort to facilitate social bonding. It is maladaptive as it has been related to increased symptoms of GAD, MDD,
important to note that HS's are similar to, but not synonymous with, feelings of loneliness, and suicidal ideation (SI; Martin et al., 2003; Martin
one's sense of humor. Rather, they are intrapsychic and interpersonal and Dutrizac, 2004; Tucker et al., 2014). Conversely, other research has
constructs which often manifest themselves in interpersonal situations suggested that HS's predict only slightly more than personality factors with
or in ways that protect the self (Martin et al., 2003). respect to one's psychological well-being (Ruch and Heintz, 2014).

Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (S.N. Mullins-Sweatt).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.01.038
Received 20 April 2016; Received in revised form 18 November 2016; Accepted 14 January 2017
Available online 17 January 2017
0165-1781/ 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
N.A. Meyer et al. Psychiatry Research 249 (2017) 337342

1.2. Humor styles and personality 2. Method

HS's are related to general personality (Martin et al., 2003; Vernon 2.1. Participants
et al., 2008) using the ve-factor model of personality (FFM; Costa and
McCrae, 1992). The FFM includes the domains of neuroticism, Participants (n =232) at a Midwestern university were recruited from
extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. undergraduate psychology courses and were oversampled for BPD traits
Replicating the initial ndings of Martin et al. (2003), Vernon et al. using a prescreener (McLean Screening Instrument for BPD; MSI-BPD;
(2008) found aliative and self-enhancing humor to be positively Zanarini et al., 2003). All measures were completed remotely online,
correlated with extraversion and openness, while the aggressive and including informed consent and debrieng procedures. Participants were
self-defeating HS's were positively correlated with neuroticism, and compensated with course credit. Invalid responders were identied by
negatively with conscientiousness. Many of these relationships were participants with > 20% missing data (n =38), scores 3 on the EPA
found across multiple studies, as reported in a recent meta-analysis Virtue scale (n =19) and 4 on the EPA Infrequency scale (n =0; Lynam
also found that agreeableness was negatively associated with aggressive et al., 2011), and outliers whose z-scores were greater than 3.29 (n =1).
humor and positively associated with aliative humor (Mendiburo- Two participants met criteria for both missing data and poor validity. All
Seguel et al., 2015). invalid responders (n =56) were removed from nal analyses (nal
The established relationships between the FFM domains and HS's sample n =176). Participant ages ranged from 18 to 53 (M =20.02, SD
are important for understanding the impact of humor on personality =4.46), and the majority were Caucasian (75.6%) or multi-racial (9.7%).
pathology. A growing body of evidence suggests that all 10 DSM-5 The remaining participants were African-American (6.3%), Native
personality disorders (PDs) can be understood as maladaptive variants American/Alaskan Native (3.4%), Hispanic (2.8%), and Asian (1.1%).
of FFM traits (Lynam and Widiger, 2001; Samuel and Widiger, 2008). Within the sample, 72.2% identied as female and 27.3% identied as
Maladaptive personality traits also form the foundation for PDs in the male. A minority of participants expressed SI (21%; i.e., 1 on the
DSM-5 alternative model (DSM-AM; Section III Emerging Models and suicidality subscale of the HDSQ; Metalsky and Joiner, 1997). Eighty-four
Measures; APA, 2013). The DSM-AM traits are variants of general FFM participants endorsed clinically signicant symptoms of BPD (i.e., MSI-
personality traits (APA, 2013). Therefore, incorporating the FFM into BPD 5). It should be noted that while the MSI-BPD was not included in
HS research is a timely and relevant endeavor. any statistical analyses, an MSI-BPD score of 5 or more was utilized as a
Among categorical expressions of maladaptive personality, border- recruitment cut-point to increase the likelihood that participants with
line personality disorder (BPD) is among the most debilitating of PD subthreshold or threshold BPD symptoms might participate (a cuto of 7
diagnoses. Symptoms include impulsive or risky behaviors, distorted has been identied with good sensitivity and specicity for diagnostic
cognitions pertaining to one's perception of self, decits in emotion BPD; Zanarini et al., 2003).
regulation, and SI. This combination of symptoms may help explain
why persons with BPD are 50 times more likely than the general 2.2. Measures
population to successfully complete suicide (Solo et al., 2000). While
BPD is conceptualized in DSM-5 as a categorical construct, a number of The Five Factor Borderline Inventory (FFBI; Mullins-Sweatt et al.,
studies have illustrated that BPD is best understood from a dimen- 2012) is a 120-item self-report measure used to assess BPD traits.
sional perspective (Edens et al., 2008; Rothschild et al., 2003; Trull Items are rated on a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to
et al., 1990). Mullins-Sweatt et al. (2012) developed the Five-Factor 5 (strongly agree). The FFBI consists of 12 subscales, each comprised
Borderline Inventory (FFBI) based on the evidence that BPD can be of 10 items. The subscales measure dierent maladaptive expressions
conceptualized by the FFM of personality. One previous study involving of FFM neuroticism (aective dysregulation, =0.89; anxious uncer-
HS's among individuals with BPD traits examined the phenotypic tainty, =0.90; behavioral dysregulation, =0.83; despondence,
relationship between HS's and BPD traits in monozygotic and dizygotic =0.88; dysregulated anger, =0.88; fragility, =0.82; and self-dis-
twin pairs, nding that these associations were best explained by turbance, =0.90), agreeableness (distrustfulness, =0.84; manipula-
common family and environmental factors (Schermer et al., 2015). tiveness, =0.80; and oppositional, =0.75), conscientiousness (rash-
ness, =0.83), and openness to experience (dissociative tendencies,
=0.81). Internal consistency for the subscales ranged from acceptable
to excellent (total score, =0.98).
1.3. The current study The Hopelessness Depression Symptom QuestionnaireSuicidality
Subscale (HDSQ-SS; Metalsky and Joiner, 1997) is a 4-item self-report
Research indicates that HS's are associated with numerous clini- measure that assesses the intensity of SI. Questions are answered on a
cally signicant factors like depression (Frewen et al., 2008; Martin 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (e.g., I do not have thoughts of
et al., 2003; Olson et al., 2005), adaptive personality (e.g., Greven et al., killing myself.) to 3 (I always have thoughts of killing myself.).
2008; Vernon et al., 2008), and maladaptive personality traits (Martin Higher scores on the HDSQ-SS infer increased SI severity and plans for
et al., 2012; Schermer et al., 2015; Veselka et al., 2010). Additionally, suicide. The HDSQ-SS had excellent internal consistency (=0.92).
despite evidence supporting the relationship between SI and HS's, such The Humor Styles Questionnaire (HSQ; Martin et al., 2003) is a 32-
that HS's moderate the relationship between other factors (e.g., item self-report measure that assesses four domains of HS: two positive
thwarted belongingness) and SI (Tucker et al., 2013b), no research (aliative and self-enhancing) and two negative (aggressive and self-
has explicitly examined the role of HS's in BPD and SI. Therefore, an defeating). Each of the four HS's is comprised of 8 items that are rated
exploration of this relationship may be useful. As such, the current on a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (totally disagree) to 7 (totally agree).
study sought to examine the moderating relationship of HS's on BPD Internal consistency coecients of the aliative (=0.84) and self-enhan-
traits and SI. The rst hypothesis is that negative HS's (self-defeating cing (=0.83) subscales were good, while the self-defeating subscale was
and aggressive) will be positively correlated with BPD traits (i.e., each acceptable (=0.78) and the aggressive subscale was questionable (=0.61).
of the subscales and the total score of the FFBI), and that positive HS's
(aliative and self-enhancing) will be negatively correlated with BPD 3. Results
traits. The second hypothesis is that each of the HS's will signicantly
moderate the relationship between BPD traits and SI, such that positive 3.1. Relationships between humor styles and BPD traits
HS's will be associated with lower SI, and negative HS's will be
associated with higher SI. Table 1 provides the descriptive statistics for the scales of all

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Table 1 disturbance and fragility. Finally, HSQ aggression negatively correlated

Descriptive Statistics of the HSQ, FFBI, and HDSQ-SS. with FFBI anxiousness and fragility, and positively correlated with the
oppositional scale.
M SD

Humor Styles
Aliative 42.49 8.50 3.2. Humor styles as a moderator between BPD traits and SI
Self-Enhancing 34.41 8.84
Aggressive 31.06 6.78
Self-Defeating 29.40 8.06
Bias-corrected bootstrapping analyses were conducted using 1000
Borderline Personality Traits resamplings from the original sample to test the hypothesis that each of
Anxious Uncertainty 32.62 9.98 the four HS's would moderate the relationship between BPD traits
Dysregulated Anger 26.46 9.00 (FFBI total score) and SI (HDSQ total score). The HSQ aliative HS
Despondence 28.52 9.70
moderated the relationship between BPD traits and SI (coecient
Self Disturbance 26.75 9.99
Behavioral Dysregulation 25.86 7.95 estimate=0.0009, SE=0.0002, t=4.05, 95% BC CI of 0.0013 to
Aective Dysregulation 25.93 9.14 0.0004). The interaction term of aliative HS BPD traits accounted
Fragility 24.56 8.38 for 8.0% of the variance of SI within the model. Conditional eect
Dissociative Tendencies 26.30 7.89 analyses indicated that the relationship between BPD traits and SI was
Distrustfulness 27.99 8.52
Manipulativeness 21.45 6.97
signicant at low (i.e., 1 SD below the mean; eect=0.021, SE=0.003,
Oppositional 23.23 6.59 t=7.33, 95% BC CI of 0.0150.026), moderate (eect=0.014,
Rashness 24.40 8.11 SE=0.002, t=7.36, 95% BC CI of 0.0100.017) and high levels (i.e.,
FFBI Total Score 314.06 79.00 1 SD above the mean) of the HSQ aliative humor style (eect=0.007,
Suicide Ideation
SE=0.002, t=2.99, 95% BC CI of 0.0020.011; see Fig. 1).
HDSQ-SS Total Score 0.78 1.85
Next, HSQ self-enhancing humor moderated the relationship
Note. N =176; FFBI = Five-Factor Borderline Inventory; HSQ = Humor Styles between BPD traits and SI (coecient estimate=0.0007, SE=0.0002,
Questionnaire; HDSQ-SS = Hopelessness Depressive Symptom Questionnaire t=3.87, 95% BC CI of 0.0011 to 0.0003). The interaction term of
Suicidality Subscale. self-enhancing humor style BPD traits accounted for 7.9% of the
variance of SI within the model. Conditional eect analyses indicated
measures. Independent samples t-tests were conducted to determine that the relationship between BPD traits and SI was signicant at low
whether gender was signicantly associated with any dierences in the (eect=0.020, SE=0.003, t=6.83, BC 95% BC CI of 0.0140.025),
study variables. Results indicated that gender was associated with moderate (eect=0.013, SE=0.002, t=6.71, 95% BC CI of 0.009
statistically signicant dierences in the FFBI total score, t(140) 0.017) and high levels of HSQ self-enhancing humor style (ef-
=2.59, p < 0.01, and the aggressive humor style, t(170) =3.05, p < fect=0.007, SE=0.002, t=3.19, 95% BC CI of 0.0030.011; see Fig. 2).
0.01. No other variables (i.e., aliative, self-defeating, self-enhancing Similarly, HSQ self-defeating humor moderated the relationship
HS's, and SI) were signicantly associated with gender. As hypothe- between BPD traits and SI (coecient estimate=0.0005, SE=0.0002,
sized, self-defeating humor was positively correlated with the FFBI t=2.13, 95% BC CI of 0.00000.0009). The interaction term of self-
total score (r(137) =0.33, p < 0.001) and self-enhancing humor was defeating HS BPD traits accounted for 2.5% of the variance of SI
negatively correlated (r(137) =0.26, p=0.003). However, aliative and within the model. Conditional eect analyses indicated that the
aggressive HS's did not signicantly correlate with the FFBI total score relationship between BPD traits and SI was signicant at low
as predicted (see Table 2). (eect=0.008, SE=0.003, t=2.66, 95% BC CI of 0.0020.013), moder-
We also utilized bivariate correlational analyses to examine the ate (eect=0.011, SE=0.002, t=5.80, 95% BC CI of 0.0080.016) and
relationships between the FFBI subscales and HSQ HS's (see Table 2). high levels of HSQ self-defeating humor style (eect=0.016, SE=0.003,
Notably, there were signicant positive correlations between HSQ self- t=5.90, 95% BC CI of 0.0100.021; see Fig. 3).
defeating humor and all FFBI subscales except for the oppositional Finally, HSQ aggressive humor did not moderate the relationship
scale. The HSQ self-enhancing scale negatively correlated with FFBI between the BPD traits and SI (coecient estimate=0.0004,
anxious uncertainty, despondence, self-disturbance, behavioral dysre- SE=0.0002, t=1.74, 95% BC CI of 0.0009 to 0.0001). The interaction
gulation, aective dysregulation, fragility, dissociative tendencies, and term of aggressive HS BPD traits accounted for 1.7% of the variance
distrust. The HSQ aliative HS negatively correlated with FFBI self- of SI within the model.

Table 2
Bivariate Correlations Between the HSQ, FFBI and HDSQ-SS.

Affiliative Self-Enhancing Aggressive Self-Defeating Suicide Ideation

Anxious Uncertainty 0.13 0.29**

0.23**
0.25**
0.27**
Dysregulated Anger 0.15 0.12 0.04 0.19* 0.24**
Despondence 0.15 0.40** 0.09 0.33** 0.59**
Self Disturbance 0.22** 0.32** 0.06 0.34** 0.47**
Behavioral Dysregulation 0.02 0.19* 0.07 0.25** 0.34**
Aective Dysregulation 0.14 0.30** 0.07 0.24** 0.48**
Fragility 0.19* 0.31** 0.15* 0.32** 0.54**
Dissociative Tendencies 0.11 0.20* 0.03 0.22** 0.39**
Distrustfulness 0.14 0.26** 0.11 0.23** 0.42**
Manipulativeness 0.07 0.12 0.15 0.16* 0.22**
Oppositional 0.14 0.14 0.23** 0.13 0.17*
Rashness 0.06 0.09 0.13 0.17* 0.23**
FFBI Total Score 0.15 0.26** 0.03 0.33** 0.55**
Suicide Ideation 0.18* 0.26** 0.16* 0.14 .

Note. N =176; FFBI = Five-Factor Borderline Inventory; HSQ = Humor Styles Questionnaire; HDSQ-SS = Hopelessness Depressive Symptom QuestionnaireSuicidality Subscale.
*
= p < 0.05.
**
= p < 0.01, two-tailed.

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N.A. Meyer et al. Psychiatry Research 249 (2017) 337342

3 FFBI BPD traits were related to SI. Additionally, the four HS's were
2.5
signicantly associated with BPD traits. As expected, the self-enhan-
cing HS was negatively related to FFBI total score and several FFBI
2 subscales and the self-defeating HS was positively related to the FFBI
total score and a number of FFBI subscales. While the aggressive and
Suicide Ideation

1.5
aliative HS's were not related to the FFBI total score, they were
1 Low Affiliative signicantly related to some FFBI subscales. Specically, the aggressive
High Affiliative HS scale was negatively related to FFBI anxious uncertainty and
0.5 fragility and positively related to oppositional, whereas the aliative
HS was negatively related to fragility and self-disturbance. Based on
0
these results, it seems that the HS's that focus on one's self (self-
-0.5 enhancing and self-defeating) are more strongly related to FFBI
subscales than the HS's which may have a stronger focus on using
-1
others to enhance one's self (aliative and aggressive). This nding is
Low FFBI High FFBI
comparable to previous research by Schermer and colleagues (2015)
Fig. 1. A signicant moderation of the aliative humor style on borderline personality who found that correlations were strongest among BPD traits with self-
traits and suicide ideation.
enhancing and self-defeating HS's. It is interesting to also see a
stronger relationship in more internalized humor within the current
3
study as BPD may be considered a disorder of both internal instability
2.5 (e.g., identity diusion, feelings of emptiness) and interpersonal
instability (e.g., dysregulated anger, frantic eorts to avoid being
2
abandoned),.
Suicide Ideation

1.5 Mostly consistent with previous research (e.g., Tucker et al.,

2013b), three of the four HS's were associated with SI. Aliative,
1 Low Self-Enhancing self-enhancing, and aggressive HS's were negatively related to SI, while
High Self-Enhancing the self-defeating HS was not signicantly related. The direction of the
0.5
correlation between aggressive HS and SI and the nding that SI was
0 not associated with the self-defeating HS ran counter to hypotheses.
Previous research utilizing a convenience sample of college students
-0.5 has failed to nd a relationship between aggressive humor and SI,
-1
which suggests a need for further research regarding this potential
Low FFBI High FFBI relationship. It is also possible that aggressive humor functions
dierently in persons who are high in BPD traits; for example,
Fig. 2. A signicant moderation of the self-enhancing humor style on borderline
personality traits and suicide ideation.
aggressive humor may help these individuals cope with negative
thoughts regarding themselves or others.
3 In addition to the results of these correlational analyses, the current
study also demonstrated that the aliative, self-enhancing, and self-
2.5 defeating HS's moderate the relationship between BPD traits and SI.
The aggressive HS, however, did not signicantly moderate this
2
relationship. It is important to note that while the three of four HS's
Suicide Ideation

1.5 were signicant moderators, they independently accounted for a

relatively small amount of variance (2.58.0%) in the prediction of
1 Low Self-Defeating
SI. Additionally, while cross-sectional analyses do not allow for causal
High Self-Defeating interpretations to be made, inferences can be made. For those who
0.5
endorse traits of BPD, the aliative and self-enhancing HS's do appear
0 to be associated with signicant reductions of SI. While our conclusions
are limited by the current study's methodology, the notion that these
-0.5
three HS's are signicantly associated with SI is particularly salient in
-1 BPD, given the dangerous interaction between an increased risk for
Low FFBI High FFBI suicidality and higher levels of impulsivity. Previous studies suggest
that impulsivity and risk-taking behaviors, nonsuicidal self-injury, and
Fig. 3. A signicant moderation of the self-defeating humor style on borderline
personality traits and suicide ideation. emotional instabilityall symptoms of BPDcan increase one's risk for
suicide (e.g., Solo et al., 2000); therefore, examining moderators and
treatment directions (such as HS's) can help inform the therapeutic
4. Discussion literature. While the aggressive HS was not a signicant moderator in
the relationship between SI and BPD traits, it was correlated with SI
BPD is among the most debilitating PD diagnoses, characterized by and some BPD traits. However, it also demonstrated questionable
problems with interpersonal relationships, aective instability, impul- internal consistency in the current study, which may explain why it was
sivity, self-perception disturbance, and suicidal behaviors. The current not found to be a signicant moderator. Although the aggressive HS
study sought to explore the relationship between BPD traits, HS's, and subscale typically has lower internal consistency compared to the other
SI. While previous research has shown a link between HS's and other subscales, it generally falls within the acceptable range. Further, other
psychopathology and SI (e.g., Frewen et al., 2008; Tucker et al., 2013a, studies have suggested that the aggressive HS specically, often fails to
2013b, 2014), this was the rst study to explore HS's as a moderator of relate to measures of pathology and well-being (Leist and Mller, 2013;
SI and BPD traits. Martin et al., 2003).
Consistent with previous research regarding BPD and suicidality Due to the interpersonal nature of impairment in BPD, the results
(Black et al., 2004; Solo et al., 2000), the results demonstrate that of these moderating analyses are largely unsurprising. The presence of

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