Religious Meaning System, Humor Styles, and Sense of Self-Dignity in Polish Older Adults: A Three-Wave Prospective Study

For older people struggling with difficulties arising from the normative aging process, religious meaning system may serve as a resource supporting development toward gerotranscendence and adaptation to old age. As gerotranscendent maturity increases, the sense of self-dignity may also increase, allowing individuals to age with dignity. Previous literature suggests that the association between religious meaning system and sense of self-dignity may be explained, in part, by humor. However, this assumption has not yet been empirically tested. The present study examined the relationship between religious meaning system and sense of self-dignity, as well as the potential mediating role of humor styles among Polish older adults. A three-wave prospective study with three measurement points was conducted on a sample of 349 individuals aged 60 to 74. Mediation analyses using bias-corrected bootstrapping indicated that the association between religious meaning system and sense of self-dignity was partially mediated by affiliative and self-defeating humor. No significant indirect effects were found for self-enhancing or aggressive humor. The findings suggest that religious meaning system may be associated with greater use of affiliative humor and lower use of self-defeating humor, which in turn may be related to higher sense of self-dignity in late adulthood. However, given the measurement design, the results should be interpreted as prospective associations rather than evidence of causal mediation.