Examination of humor styles and mental health status of health services students in vocational schools

Objectives: The aim of the study is to determine the humor styles and general mental health of health services students in a vocational school in Turkey. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted in Turkey in 2013. A total of 354 of health services students from vocational schools agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected from students using a descriptive form, a humor styles questionnaire and a General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12). Data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. Descriptive and Pearson tests were used to analyze the study data. Results: Students' mean ages was 21.01 +/- 2.26, most participants were women (64.5%), of a moderate socio-economic status (61.9%) and non-smokers (63.8%). The students mean scores for the humor sub-scales are as follows: Affiliative humor 39.63 +/- 8.18, self-enhancing humor 33.64 +/- 9,44, aggressive humor 23.29 +/- 7.67 and self-defecting humor 26.51 +/- 7.87. Most of the students' GHQ scores suggested that participants were at risk of having a mental health disorder (20.6%), while 27.1%were found to be at high risk of having a mental health disorder. A low negative significant correlation between the students self-enhancing humor and general health risk was found. Conclusion: The study found that students have positive humor styles. Nearly half of the student partisans were found to be at a low risk regarding the development of psychiatric disorders