Humor, laughter, and happiness in the daily lives of recently bereaved spouses.

The positive psychology movement has drawn more attention to not only examining positive outcomes associated with stressful life transitions and situations but has also brought greater awareness of the importance of positive coping processes (Fredrickson, 2003; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). For well over a decade, research has shown support for the potential role of positive emotions and humor in particular, in reducing stress (Folkman, 1997; Lefcourt, 2002; Martin, 2001). Having a sense of humor is recognized as a coping mechanism and has been found to be associated with overall quality of life, psychological well-being and physical health (Thorson & Powell, 1993; Thorson, Powell, Sarmany-Schuller & Hampes, 1997; Folkman & Moskowitz, 2000). In the well known study of young Catholic nuns' autobiographies dating back to the 1930's, those who experienced the most positive emotions over the course of their lives lived approximately 10 years longer than those whose accounts contained fewer positive emotions (Danner, Snowdon, & Friesen, 2001). Research on bereavement has clearly identified that most people experience both positive and negative emotions during the course of adjustment (Bisconti, Bergeman & Boker, 2004; Bonanno & Kaltman, 1999) and that it is not uncommon to experience a wide range of emotions nearly simultaneously (Lund, Caserta & Dimond, 1993; Byrne & Raphael, 1999). There is considerable intra-individual variation in grief (Ong, Bergeman & Bisconti, 2004). However, most attention has been directed toward an examination of the emotions that are problematic, or determined to interfere with daily life and threatening to well-being (e.g. anger, fear and sadness) (Fredrickson, 2003; Stroebe & Schut, 2001). While very little empirical research has examined positive aspects of the bereavement coping process and adjustment outcomes, there is some evidence that positive daily emotions among the bereaved can either regulate, moderate or protect against some of the negative psychosocial reactions associated with grief (Fredrickson, 2001; Fredrickson, Mancuso, Branigan & Tugade, 2000; Ong et al, 2004). For example, some evidence within the literature on emotional self regulation and the course of human development suggests that as adults age they often improve in affect optimization where they use positive emotions to reduce negative emotions and the end result may increase their resiliency to losses (Carstensen, Fung & Charles, 2003; Labouvie-Vief & Medler, 2002; Mroczek & Kolarz, 1998; Blanchard-Fields, 1997). Ong and colleagues (2004) found that in a sample of 34 recently widowed older women, those who experienced daily positive emotions and the use of humor had less bereavement stress, anxiety and depression. They concluded that daily stress and depressive symptoms are weakened when positive emotions are also present. Keltner and Bonanno (1997) also reported that bereaved persons who engaged in full-laughter were more successful in emotionally distancing themselves from grief. Hill (2005) suggests that being able to cultivate positive emotional states may be an intrapersonal resource that facilitates resilient coping in widowhood. An increasingly popular conceptual framework to explain bereavement adaptation, the (DPM) dual process model (Stroebe & Schut, 1999), also allows for the potential value of experiencing humor and other positive emotions and actions in the coping process. The DPM suggests that people will make more effective adjustments to bereavement if they engage in two coping processes, moving back and forth between them overtime (oscillating) as needed (Caserta & Lund, 2007). The first process (loss-orientation) deals with the stress associated with psycho-emotional difficulties related to the loss such as the severed attachments, sadness, pining, regrets, rumination, and the intrusion of grief in one's day-to-day existence. The second process (restoration-orientation) requires attention to coping with restorative aspects associated with developing new skills and relationships and building a new daily life. According to the DPM, restoration-orientation also includes engaging in activities or having experiences that are distractions from grief. Therefore, having humor and laughter in one's daily life could be perceived as a distraction from grief and contribute to restoration-oriented coping in this model. Also, some evidence is emerging that restoration-oriented coping may begin in the first few weeks and months of bereavement (Bisconti et al, 2004: Richardson, 2007). One factor that has not been addressed in the emerging research on positive emotions and coping with difficult life transitions (e.g. bereavement), is the degree of importance that individuals' place on having daily positive emotions in their lives. Most theories of adult development suggest that there is considerable variation in how people develop relatively unique personal characteristics, personalities, preferences and lifestyles (Hill, 2005) so it should be no surprise that people also will vary according to how much importance they place on experiencing positive emotions. This may be particularly true regarding the perceived importance for having humor and laughter in daily life. We suggest that research on positive emotions and coping with bereavement should consider to what extent individuals desire or value the experiences. For example, if someone perceives humor and laughter as being important but they are unable to experience them, they may have much greater dissatisfaction than someone else who indicates that humor and laughter are not very important to them. Similarly, if someone does not place a high degree of importance on having humor in their daily life there should not be much disappointment if it is not present during bereavement. The primary purpose of this study, therefore, is to investigate the role of daily positive emotions in coping with spousal bereavement and to address three specific questions. First, how much importance do recently bereaved spouses place on having humor and happiness in their daily lives? Second, to what extent do these recently bereaved (2-6 months) widows and widowers regularly experience humor, laughter and happiness? Third, if bereaved spouses place a great deal of importance on having humor and happiness in their daily lives and they are able to experience these positive emotions are they also experiencing more positive bereavement adjustments? And, by contrast, do those who place a great deal of importance on having humor and happiness but do not experience them have the greatest difficulty adjusting to bereavement?