Humour, peer acceptance and perceived social competence in preschool and school‐aged children

Relations between children's humour, behavioural characteristics, acceptance by peers in kindergarten and school, and self-perceptions are examined in the study. In a sample of preschool children (aged 4 to 7 years) humour as assessed by preschool teachers was not consistently related to peer acceptance or rejection, or to self-perceived humour and behaviour. A theoretical model is presented to analyse predictive relations between humour, behavioural characteristics, acceptance by classmates, and self-perceptions of humour and social competence in school-aged children. The model was tested on a sample of 4th and 8th grade students, with teacher assessment (in grade 8 also peer assessment) of humour and behavioural characteristics. In general, results were consistent with the model for 8th grade students with peer measures of humour and behaviour. Humour was predictive of perception of own humour, and, when assessed by peers, humour also predicted peer acceptance. Self-perception of social competence was affected directly by students' perception of their own humour. Thus perceived social competence was linked indirectly to humour as assessed by peers or teachers in 8th grade. In grade 4 no direct links from humour were found, but self-perception of humour still affected perceived social competence.