Moderating effects of age on relationships between humour and cognitive abilities in early childhood

Abstract

The primary aim of this study is to examine the associations between humour characteristics and cognitive abilities - verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal reasoning - in children aged 60 to 72 months. Furthermore, the study explores whether gender and age moderate these relationships. The sample consisted of 492 children (239 girls, 253 boys; M_age = 66 months, SD = 6 months) attending public preschools in T & uuml;rkiye. Findings revealed significant associations between overall cognitive ability scores and humour characteristics. Analyses showed that, after controlling for gender and age, verbal, quantitative, and nonverbal cognitive abilities significantly predicted 9% of the variance in openness to humour, 4% of the variance in the use of humour, and 6% of the variance in avoidance of humour. Further analyses indicated that age served as a moderator in the relationships between quantitative abilities and openness to humour, as well as between nonverbal abilities and openness to humour.