Pun-Based Gifts, Perceived Playfulness, and Marital Satisfaction

This research examines how pun-based gifts, compared to conventional gifts, enhance marital satisfaction through the mechanism of perceived playfulness, and how this effect is moderated by psychological distance (spatial separation). Across three online scenario-based experiments, we found consistent support for the positive effect of pun-based gifts. The effect was mediated by perceived playfulness and moderated by spatial distance: pun-based gifts were more effective when spouses were distant, whereas conventional gifts were relatively more beneficial when spouses were proximate.