Humor Styles of Hispanic and Caucasian Women: Findings on a Dating Website

The objective of this study is to compare Hispanic and Caucasian Generation Y women’s humor styles in dating, using theories regarding cultural norms, gender role, and education. Content analysis is performed on the basis of 400 online dating profiles. The results show that young Hispanic and Caucasian women share the same frequency and similar patterns in the use of humor in online dating. In spite of the non-significant results on cultural differences, education significantly influences humor styles of young women, as those with less education stress the use of negative humor and those with more education are associated with a greater amount of positive humor. The findings offer insights into humor in social media.