The Early Humor Survey (EHS): A reliable parent-report measure of humor development for 1-to 47-month-olds. Journal: Behavior Research Methods. Year: 2021. Authors: Hoicka, E., Soy Telli, B., Prouten, E., Leckie, G., Browne, W. J., Mireault, G., & Fox, C

We report five studies in which we developed and tested a new 20-question parent-report measure of humour development for children from 1–47 months: the Early Humour Survey (EHS). These studies, involving 890 parents and their children from around the world (including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States). Focussing on 671 of the parent reports, we charted the ages at which 25%, 50%, and 75% of children appreciate 20 different types of humour, including peekaboo, misusing objects, and mislabeling. Parents can look at the last 3 columns of Table 1 in the paper to find out when they might expect their children to appreciate different types of humour. Parents were very good reporters of their children’s humour – when both parents reported on their children’s humour separately, they generally reported the same things. Our research found that the EHS can be used in different English-speaking countries, and with parents of different levels of education. When pooling all data, we found no differences in humour development across demographic variables, including country, parent education, or child gender. The EHS is a valuable tool that will allow researchers to understand how humour: (1) emerges; and (2) affects other aspects of life, e.g., making friends, coping with stress, and creativity. The EHS is helpful for parents, early years educators, and children’s media, as it systematically charts early humour development.