Laughing all the way to the lockdown: On humor, optimism, and well-being during COVID-19

Reizer, Abira Munk Yifat Frankfurter Lotem Katz

The present paper examined the contribution of optimism and humor styles to well-being during the COVID-19 lockdown period. Furthermore, we examined whether these direct associations were mediated by two common COVID-19 challenges––work-family interface (WFI) and COVID-19 fears. Israeli employees (N = 356) completed an online survey during lockdown restrictions (69% women, 57.20% held academic degrees, Mage = 30.70, age-range = 20–61). Both optimism and adaptive humor revealed a positive and direct effect on well-being. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that both fear of COVID-19 and WFI mediated the direct associations between optimism and well-being, as well as the direct associations between maladaptive humor and well-being, whereas WFI mediated the association between adaptive humor and well-being. These findings stress the need to adapt interventions derived from positive psychology to enhance well-being during these challenging times of COVID-19.