Relationship between types of humour and stress response and well‐being among children in Japan

“My ADHD Hellbrain”: A Twitter Data Science Perspective on a Behavioural Disorder

Purpose

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common behavioural condition. This article introduces a new data science method, word association thematic analysis, to investigate whether ADHD tweets can give insights into patient concerns and online communication needs.

Design/methodology/approach

Tweets matching “my ADHD” (n=58,893) and 99 other conditions (n=1,341,442) were gathered and two thematic analyses conducted. Analysis 1: A standard thematic analysis of ADHD-related tweets. Analysis 2: A word association thematic analysis of themes unique to ADHD.

Findings

The themes that emerged from the two analyses included people ascribing their brains agency to explain and justify their symptoms and using the concept of neurodivergence for a positive self-image.

Research limitations

This is a single case study and the results may differ for other topics.

Practical implications

Health professionals should be sensitive to patients’ needs to understand their behaviour, find ways to justify and explain it to others and to be positive about their condition.

Originality/value

Word association thematic analysis can give new insights into the (self-reported) patient perspective.

Students' Perception of Teachers' Humor Predicts Their Mental Health

The aim of the present study was to determine whether two types of teacher humor (Aggressive Humor and Affinity Humor) are predictors of students' mental health. A self-report scale was administered to 500 elementary and junior high school students in grades 4 to 9 (mean age 12.04, SD = 1.76) asking questions about perceived teacher humor, stress response, emotional well-being, and self-esteem. Aggressive humor was a significant positive predictor of stress response and a significant negative predictor of emotional well-being. Affinity humor was a significant positive predictor of emotional well-being and self-esteem. These results suggest that the teacher's humor is related to students' mental health. We conclude that teachers should refrain from using aggressive humor as much as possible in favor of affinity humor.