Sex Differences in Children's Humor

The study was designed to determine the age at which sex differences in humor 1st begin to appear. Children of 2 different age groups were observed under naturalistic settings. The youngest group consisted of 22 white 3-6 year old preschool children & the older group consisted of 43 white 6-11 year old children. Each child was rated at the end of each day in terms of frequency of laughter, behavioral attempts to initiate humor, verbal attempts to initiate humor, & hostility of humor. In nursery school children no sex differences were apparent in amounts of laughter, verbal attempts to initiate humor, or hostility, while in older children, boys rated higher than girls on all aspects. In examining data on parent & child behavioral antecedents of the 4 measures, only 2 variables were found to be consistently predictive: a lack of maternal babying & general level of adjustment in the home. Antecedents of humor responsiveness in the child's interaction with peers were characterized by high levels of dominance & aggressiveness, especially among girls. L. Freer