Humor and Gender Roles: Does Age Make a Difference?

Abstract

Crawford's analysis in 2003 suggests that humor interacts with gender so that traditional social norms of femininity and masculinity may be reinforced or diminished. Yet age as a covariate was not considered. Assessment of the attitudes toward humor among 72 older women (M = 72.0, SD = 9.8, range = 51–93 years) and 24 older men (M = 69.8, SD = 6.8, range = 59–90 years) in 1996 by Vitulli and Parman suggest ratings on a Likert-type scale (anchored by 5: strongly agree and 1: strongly disagree) in which humor and gender interact. Moreover, a post hoc Scheffé test showed a significant sex effect on the female-oriented scale. Older women perceived humor as an important quality for women, whereas older men did not. Generational differences among studies on humor and sex underscore the need for contemporary research inclusive of age measures.