Need for Humor Scale: validation with French children.

The Need for Humor (NFH) Scale measures the tendency to produce and seek out humor. This personality trait affects the processing and recall of humorous material. This study is a transcultural adaptation and validation of the NFH Scale with French participants, including 100 university students (Study 1a) and 160 school-aged children (Study 1b). Results from iterative exploratory analyses and confirmatory analyses revealed a bi-dimensional structure with satisfactory factor loadings. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were also found to be adequate (Cronbach's alphas = .79 and .68; test-retest rs = .87 and .82). Children were tested on a preference task for humorous vs non-humorous print advertisements; children with high NFH scores responded more positively to humorous advertisements (Study 2). The French NFH Scale can be used as a valid and reliable tool for assessing need for humor in children and its effects on responses to print advertisements.