Introduction. Acta Medica Mediterranea, 2015, 31: 1351 GHOLAM HOSSEIN ENTESAR FOUMANY 1*, JAVAD SALEHI 2 1

Transcription

1 Acta Medica Mediterranea, 2015, 31: 1351 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LIFE SATISFACTION AND THE MEDIATORY ROLE OF RESILIENCY AND EMOTIONAL BALANCE AMONG THE STUDENTS OF ZANJAN UNIVERSITY GHOLAM HOSSEIN ENTESAR FOUMANY 1*, JAVAD SALEHI 2 1 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Zanjan branch, Islamic Azad University - 2 Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Zanjan, Zanjan, Iran ABSTRACT The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and the mediating role of resiliency and emotional balance. In so doing, stratified sampling was employed to select 250 university students who were subsequently required to complete the study instruments. The required data were collected through Shearing s Emotional Intelligence Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale by Diener et al (1999), PANAS Emotional Balance Scale and Conner and Davidson Resiliency Scale. The collected data were analyzed by path analysis method. The results of the study indicated that there is a direct significant relationship with life and between emotional balance and resiliency. Moreover, resiliency had a positive significant relationship with emotional balance and satisfaction with life. Therefore, emotional intelligence and resiliency can be improved through educational interventions, which leads to adjustment and increased satisfaction with life. Key words: emotional intelligence, satisfaction with life, resiliency, emotional balance, university students. Received May 30, 2015; Accepted November 02, 2015 Introduction Nowadays, the issue of emotional intelligence and its importance in individuals lives along with cognitive intelligence has been highlighted in various studies. All of us know individuals who have succeeded in their education but failed in their lives. Although scholars have considered cognitive intelligence to be important and vital for human resources, they believe that it is not always sufficient; therefore, the pay more attention to emotional intelligence. They also stated that 80% of the individuals success at work depends on their emotional intelligence and only 20% is related to their intelligence quotient (IQ) (1). It can be claimed that the issue of emotional intelligence has started since 2000 years ago when Plato wrote: All learning has an emotional basis (2). According to Singer (1998), emotional intelligence is the clever use of emotions in a way that one uses his emotions cleverly and directs his behavior and thoughts in the direction of his goals. In Thorndike s view, a clever individual is someone who can understand others feelings and emotions and communicate with them well when he attends a public place (3) which is called emotional intelligence. Mayer and Salovey defined emotional intelligence as the ability to evaluate, express and regulate one s and others emotions and use it efficiently (4). According to Mayer Salovey, emotional intelligence is a form of social intelligence that includes the ability to control emotions and feelings of oneself and others, the capacity to discriminate among such feelings and emotions, and utilization of this information as a guide for the individual s thoughts and actions (5). Daniel Golemanis someone whose works are more than any other scholar bound to emotional intelligence. He wrote a book entitled, Emotional Intelligence in 1995 which became the bestseller that year. In his book, Golemanpresents interesting

2 1352 Gholam Hossein Entesar Foumany, Javad Salehi information on human brain, emotions and behaviors (6).Goleman (1999) believes that emotional intelligence causes happiness and prosperity of individuals. He defines five basic skills and components of emotional intelligence as recognition of one s feelings, mastery over one s feelings, selfmotivation, identification of others feelings, and regulation of one s relationships with others. He defines emotional intelligence as the capacity to understand, describe, perceive, and control emotions. He also states that emotional intelligence is the ability to identify feelings and emotions of oneself and others and use them in order to communicate effectively with others in workplace (3). Besides emotional intelligence that plays an important role in individuals lives, satisfaction with life is another variable that has been taken into account in the present study. One of the most important reasons for the issue of satisfaction with life in psychology and in general in humanities is its pivotal role in individual health and wellbeing of human (5). One of the indices of mental health is the rate of satisfaction with life. The results of different studies have indicated that there are extensive relationships between satisfaction with life and some important psychological behaviors and states such as depression, self-esteem, and hope. Moreover, satisfaction with life is an outstanding indication for the individual s successful adjustment with changes in different situations of life (7). Satisfaction with life refers to the individual s attitude, general evaluation of his life totality, and some aspects of his life like family life and educational experience (7). Major components of subjective wellbeing include: emotional components which are usually classified into positive and negative emotions and cognitive components that include satisfaction with life. Satisfaction with life has been defined as a level of individual awareness or cognitive evaluation of life quality which can reflect a general and comprehensive evaluation well enough in special fields of life (1). Satisfaction with life has also been defied as a judgmental and cognitive process (5). In which individuals evaluate the quality of their lives based on a set of evaluation criteria. Satisfaction with life is mostly a cognitive category while negative and positive feeling is considered as an emotional category. The feeling of satisfaction with life aspects is one of the positive components of individual s attitude toward the universe where he lives. Satisfaction with life reflexes the balance between and individual s personal aspirations and his current situation. In other words, the more the distance between the individual s aspirations and his real situation, the lower the level of his satisfaction with life will be. Therefore, satisfaction with life can significantly be evaluated and remarkably increase or decrease. Carr (2003) states that the more joyful the living conditions, life will be associated with more remarkable happiness and satisfaction.this conditions can include countries, cities, neighborhoods, the house, and places in which happiness means are available. In recent studies, emotional balance has been considered as a mediatory role between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life. The way we really feel about things is called feelings. We all have both pleasant and unpleasant experiences in our lives. Emotional balance refers to balance between positive and negative feelings. When we are placed in stressful situations, those who have been encouraged to have positive feelings will retrieve their normal heartbeat and blood pressure soon compared to those who have experienced negative or neutral feelings. Therefore, concentration on positive feelings during difficult situations can help us get improved sooner (8). As a key component in mental wellbeing, emotional balance is counted as a balance maker between negative and positive emotions. Emotional wellbeing was specifically discovered because it had an important role in judgments about satisfaction with life (9). Due to the strong relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional wellbeing and the role of emotional wellbeing in satisfaction with life, it seems reasonable that emotional balance be assumed as a mediator between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life. In line with this line of argument, empirical research supports this assumption (10). Therefore, one of the hypothesis of the current study is: Emotional balance acts like a mediator with life. In addition to emotional balance, the present study examined the role of resiliency as a mediator as well. In general, the term resiliency is interpreted as factors and processes that halt the growth path from risk of problem-causing behaviors and psychological damage and bring about adaptive consequences despite of adverse conditions (11). Successfully getting along with stressors and difficult situations is called resiliency (12). As a popular

3 The relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and the mediatory role of resiliency field of research in recent years, resiliency deals with study and discover individual and interpersonal capacities that cause progress and resistance in difficult conditions (13). Researchers consider resiliency and vulnerability as the two opposite poles of a continuum. Vulnerability is defined as the increased probability of negative consequences in the face of risks (14). Kumpfer (1999) believed that resiliency is to return to the initial balance and a higher one (in threatening conditions); therefore, it provides successful adjustment in life. Resilient individuals possess four main characteristics (15) : Social competence(such as understanding, flexibility, empathy and compassion, communication skills and sense of humor), Problem-solving skills (such as planning, help seeking and critical and creative thinking), Autonomy(identity, self-efficacy, self-awareness and mastery over duties) and Purposefulness and optimism toward the future (such as goal setting, optimism and spirituality). Werner and Smith (1992) declared that resiliency can be improved by enhancing social skills like communication establishment, leading skills, problem solving, management of resources, the ability to resolve barriers and planning ability (11). Resiliency; however, is not the only resistance against damages and threatening conditions and is not a passive state in the face of risky situations, but it is active and constructive participation in one s surrounding. It can be stated that resiliency is the individual s capacity to establish biological-mental balance in hazardous conditions (11). Therefore, resiliency cannot be considered equal to improvement because in improvement, the individual experiences negative consequences and emotional problems while resiliency refers to the individual s return to natural functioning after experiencing a stressful or annoying event. Terminologically, resiliency is defined as a type of developable state based on which the individual can continue his attempts to achieve more success and accept more responsibility in the face of frustrations, disasters, and life conflicts, and even positive events like progress. In total, resilient individuals are characterized by first, accepting life realities easily and second, believing that life is meaningful and significant. This belief is usually supported by their values. Such individuals are remarkably capable of quickly adapting themselves to big changes. Resiliency is one of the factors that influence the individual s satisfaction with life. In linguistic terms, resiliency refers to the ability of an object to retrieve its original shape and structure. Therefore, the term resiliency may refer to behavioral phenomena in engineering, physiology, environment and human behavior in a large range of situations (2). An important study conducted on the characteristics of resilient individuals is the one conducted by Matsen, Best and Garmezy who referred to three outstanding properties of resilient individuals: the capacity to develop and progress despite of adverse and risky conditions and occurrence of positive consequences after experiencing them, the permanent capability to perform under stress and tension, and ability to return trauma caused by experiencing adverse situations in life. Another individual quality that is effective in resilient individuals is their ability of self-regulation and selfcontrol. In general, personality characteristics like positive self-concept, sociability, intelligence, competence in education, autonomy, self-esteem, good relationships, problem-solving skills and mental and physical health are effective factors in enhancing the individual s resiliency (7). Individual s successful coping with stressors and difficult situations is called resiliency (12). As a popular field of study in recent years, resiliency deals with study and discovers individual and interpersonal capacities that cause progress and resistance in difficult conditions (13). Resiliency refers to a successful adaption which appears in the face of debilitating disasters. This definition of resiliency indicates a structure that requires a complicated balance among risky and supportive factors (8). Studies indicated that resilient individuals do not have self-destructive behaviors, are emotionally calm, and have the capacity to cope with adverse conditions (4). Kaplan (1999) believes that resilient individuals participate more in health promotion behaviors, welcome involvement in daily activities, enjoy challenges, and prefer change to stability. The term resiliency generally refers to processes and factors that halt the growth path from risk of problem-causing behaviors and psychological damage and bring about adaptive consequences despite of adverse conditions (11). Resiliency is a type of immunization against psychosocial problems and enhances the positive functioning of life. Werner and Smith (1992) stated that resiliency can be improved by increasing social skills like communication creation, leader-

4 1354 Gholam Hossein Entesar Foumany, Javad Salehi ship skills, and problem-solving skills, management of resources, the ability to resolve success barriers, and the ability to plan (11). The results of the study entitled, the relationship between resiliency and satisfaction with life indicated that there was a positive relationship between resiliency and satisfaction with life. There was a difference between men and women in regard with satisfaction with life. However, there was no difference between them in terms of their resiliency (1). The results of another study entitled, the relationship between resiliency, mental health and satisfaction with life indicated that resiliency could lead an increase in satisfaction with life due to causing a decrease in emotional problems or an increase in mental health. The effect of resiliency on satisfaction with life is indirect (16). The results of the study conducted by Javadi and Peru (2008) entitled, the relationship between emotional intelligence and resiliency among students of Wellbeing and Rehabilitation University indicated that the students resiliency in the face of risky situations would increase with an increase in emotional intelligence. The results of the study entitled, the mediatory role of resiliency in the relationship between emotional intelligence and general intelligence and satisfaction with life conducted by Jowkar (2008) indicated that first, emotional and general intelligences were poor direct predictors for satisfaction with life, second, compared to general intelligence, emotional intelligence was a better predictor for resiliency, and third, resiliency had a mediatory role among different types of intelligence and satisfaction with life. Moreover, it was concluded that this role was stronger for emotional intelligence. The results of comparing the path diagram of boys and girls indicated that the paths and their coefficients for girls were not in line with the whole group (17). The results of the study conducted by Armstrong, Galligan and Critchley (2011) indicated that vulnerable individuals had obtained lower scores on their emotional intelligence while resilient ones had gained higher scores. Therefore, Armstrong argued that emotional intelligence can directly affect resiliency. Moreover, research indicated that individuals with the ability to regulate their emotions can enhance their resiliency (18). Ciarrochi, Chan, and Caputi (2007) studied the relationship between emotional intelligence, intelligence, personality features, and satisfaction with life among university students (19). The results of some studies have indicated that there is no relationship between emotional intelligence and general intelligence; however, there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and personality. Jowkar (2008) conducted a study on the relationship with life and concluded that emotional intelligence had a positive correlation with satisfaction with life (17). However, there was no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and IQ. Crick (2002) investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and social competence and success among 31 girls and 89 boys of years old and concluded that female students gained higher total scores on emotional intelligence and also obtained higher average scores on interpersonal relationships and adjustment. The results of another recent study entitled, the mediatory effect of emotion on the relationship between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life among the youth indicated that positive and negative emotions act as mediators in the relationship between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life and that the indirect effect of emotional intelligence on satisfaction with life was stronger with positive emotions than negative ones. In a similar study to the present one, the researchers evaluated the effect of resiliency and emotional balance as the mediators of the relationship with life. They concluded that emotional intelligence with resiliency and emotional balance as mediators had an indirect effect on satisfaction with life. Moreover, resiliency was confirmed as a mediator between emotional intelligence and emotional balance. Method The study employed a correlational method. The statistical population included all students of Humanities Faculty, Zanjan University. Stratified sampling was utilized in order to select 250 students. The required data were collected through Shearing s Emotional Intelligence Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale by Diener et al (1985), Conner and Davidson Resiliency Scale (2003) and PANAS Emotional Balance Scale.

5 The relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and the mediatory role of resiliency Results The results of the present study indicated that 68% of the respondents were female and 32% of them were male. The frequency distribution of the respondents according to their age indicated that 81% of the respondents were under 20 and 19% of them were between years old. As indicated in Table 2, the direct effect of emotional intelligence on resiliency, emotional balance and satisfaction with life was positive and significant with coefficients of 0.50, 0.52 and 0.30, respectively (p<0.01). Therefore, emotional intelligence had a positive significant effect of resiliency, emotional balance and satisfaction with life among students. Discussion and conclusion The value of correlation coefficient between emotional intelligence and resiliency was r=0.50. Moreover, the value of correlation coefficient between emotional intelligence and emotional balance was r=0.59. Furthermore, emotional intelligence with correlation coefficient of r=0.588 had a positive significant relationship with satisfaction with life. The variable of resiliency of the students with a correlation coefficient of r=0.41 had also a positive correlation with emotional balance. On the other hand, there was a positive significant relationship between the students resiliency and satisfaction with life (p<0.01). Emotional balance with a correlation coefficient of 0.47 had a positive and significant correlation with satisfaction with life. Path analysis test was employed to evaluate the study model. All of the coefficients of the calculated direct paths were significant (p<0.01) and had a positive effect on each other. The present study investigated the relationship with life with resiliency and emotional balance as mediators. The results of the study indicated that not only resiliency and emotional balance had a mediatory role between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life but also emotional balance acted as a mediator between resiliency and satisfaction with life. There is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and resiliency. The calculated correlation coefficient of the first hypothesis is approved. A lot of studies investigated the mediatory role of resiliency between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life (20). In agreement with the study conducted by Armstrong et al., the present study indicated that emotional intelligence had a positive significant effect on resiliency. The effective effect of resiliency on the rate of satisfaction with life has been indicated in other study, too (21, 22). In other words, the first effect of promoting individual capacities in terms of resiliency is a reduction in emotional and mental problems, an increase in mental health, and thus an increase in the rate of satisfaction with life. Since different skills of resiliency are learnable (23), by teaching such skills to individuals, their general health and thus satisfaction with life can be enhanced. By teaching communication skills, utilizing coping strategies, creating courage, and self-expressing, we can enhance the individuals resiliency, general health, and satisfaction with life (24). There was a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and emotional balance. According to the calculated correlation coefficients this hypothesis is confirmed. In addition to resiliency, emotional balance as the mediator with life had a positive effect. Therefore, the indirect effect of emotional intelligence on satisfaction with life can be approved by taking emotional balance into account.

6 1356 Gholam Hossein Entesar Foumany, Javad Salehi Emotional intelligence had a positive relationship with satisfaction with life. According to the correlation coefficient between emotional intelligence and satisfaction with life, the third hypothesis was accepted. Regarding the direct relationship with life, recent studies have provided different results and there are a poor correlation (19) and an average one (14) among them. Therefore, this relationship is always doubtful. Presence of various mediators between these two variables can be one of the reasons for such contradictions. There was a positive relationship between resiliency and emotional balance. The calculated correlation coefficient indicated that this hypothesis was confirmed. According to the relationship between resiliency and emotional balance, some studies have indicated that individuals with higher levels of resiliency have more positive feelings and fewer negative ones. The remarkable effects of resiliency on emotional balance might be due to the fact that resilient individuals possess characteristics like optimism, tendency, energetic attitude toward life, more curiosity, tendency to have new experiences, and willingness to have more positive emotions. According to previous findings, it seems reasonable that one argue that resiliency has a mediatory role between emotional intelligence and emotional balance. There was a positive relationship between resiliency and satisfaction with life. The results of the present study also confirmed this hypothesis. One of the capacities of human is resiliency that is learnable and can lead to an increase in satisfaction with life if it is enhanced. When individuals are happy in their lives, they can think more and be creative while dissatisfied individuals are stressed. Positive psychology has recently tried to teach the methods to achieve happy life by emphasizing concepts like resiliency. There was a positive relationship between emotional balance and satisfaction with life. The calculated correlation coefficient indicated that this hypothesis was also confirmed. In addition to the direct relationship, resiliency was discovered to have an indirect effect on satisfaction with life in a way that it first affects emotional balance and then enhances satisfaction with life (25). Therefore, in addition to direct significant effect on satisfaction with life, resiliency can have an indirect effect through emotional balance. In agreement with the results reported by Liu and Wang, the results of the present study indicated that emotional balance plays the role of a complete mediator between resiliency and satisfaction with life. According to the previous literature of the present study, emotional intelligence is antecedent to (predictor of) resiliency and the relationship between resiliency and emotional balance has the same role in satisfaction with life as emotional balance does. Therefore, according to the results of the present study, it can be stated that change in feelings and emotions and control over emotions can help achieve a set of learnable skills and capacities. One of these capacities is resiliency. By designing appropriate educational lesson plans; therefore, we can create positive feelings and attitudes in individuals in order to enhance their resiliency and thus their satisfaction with life. Since the results of the present study indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between emotional intelligence and resiliency and that emotional intelligence predicts resiliency, future studies can focus on promotion of capacities related to emotional intelligence. According to the structure and components of emotional intelligence, it can be stated that perceiving and expressing emotions, regulating emotions, taking advantage of emotions, and managing emotions in risky and adverse situations act like a protective factor which enhances the individual s resiliency (6), resilient individuals can control their emotions, free themselves from confusion, and provide more extensive systems for social support and family relationships, which help them achieve more satisfaction with life and better adjustment. Researchers (for example, Goleman, 1999) believe that emotional intelligence can be promoted through regular and useful educational programs. Therefore, the results of the present study can provide the grounds for conducting interventional studies in order to enhance and develop resiliency among university students. Moreover, teaching skills of emotional intelligence can be useful in preventing adaptation problems especially lack of satisfaction with life. References 1) Khal atbari, J. & Bahari, S. (2010). The relationship between resiliency and satisfaction with life. The Journal of Educational Psychology, 1(2). (In Persian). 2) Gu, Q. & Day, C. (2007). Teacher s resilience: A necessary condition for effectiveness. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, PP:

7 The relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction and the mediatory role of resiliency ) Goleman, D. (1999). Working with Emotional Intelligence. Great Britain: Bloomsbury. 4) Letzring, T. D., Block, J., & Funder, D. C. (2005). Egocontrol and ego-resiliency: Generalization of self-report scales based on personality descriptions from acquaintances, clinicians, and the self.journal of Research in Personality, 39, ) Diener, E., Emmons, R.A., Larsen, R.J., Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49 (1), ) Momeni, N. (2005). Investigating the relationship between emotional intelligence of managers and organizational environment using 360-degree feedback approach. Unpublished MA Thesis, Alzahra University, Tehran. (In Persian). 7) Diener, E., E. M. Suh, R. E. Lucas, and H. L. Smith (1999). Subjective Well-Being, Three Decades. 8) Fredrickson, B. L. (2009). Positivity. New York, NY: Crown. 9) Kuppens, P., van Mechelen, I., & Rijmen, F. (2008). Toward disentangling sources of individual differences in appraisal and anger. Journal of Personality, 76, ) Kong, F., & Zhao, J. (2013). Affective mediators of the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction in young adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(2), ) Mohammadi, M. (2005). Investigating effective factors in resiliency among individuals that are exposed to the risk of drug consumption. Unpublished PhD Dissertation, Wellbeing and Rehabilitation University. (In Persian) 12) Mc Cubbin, M. A., & Mc Cubbin, H. I. (1996). Resiliency in families: A conceptual model of family adjustment and adaptation in response to stress and crisis. In H. Mc Cubbin, A. Thompson, &M. Mc Cubbin (Eds.), Family assessment: Resiliency, coping, and adaptation: Inventories for research and practice. Madison: University of Wisconsin. 13) Richardson, G. E. (2002). The metatheory of resilience and resiliency. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 58 (3), pp ) Fergus, S., & Zemmerman. M. A. (2005). Adolescent resilience: A framework for understanding healthy development in the face of risk. Annual Review Public Health; 26: ) Masten, A., Best, K., & Garmezy, N. (1990). Resilience and development: Contributions from the study of children who overcome adversity. Development and Psychopathology, 2, ) Samani, S., Jokar, B. & Shragard, N. (2007). The relationship between resiliency, mental health, and satisfaction with life. The Journal of Iran Clinical Psychology, 13(3). (In Persian) 17. Jowkar, B. (2008). The mediatory role of resiliency in the relationship between emotional intelligence and general intelligence and satisfaction with life. Contemporary Psychology, 2(4): (In Persian). 18) Tugade, M. M., & Fredrickson, B. L. (2007). Regulation of positive emotions: Emotion regulation strategies that promote resilience. Journal of Happiness Studies, 8, ) Ciarrochi, J. V., Chan, A. Y. C., & Caputi, P. (2001). A critical evaluation of the emotional intelligence construct. Personality and Individual Differences, 28, ) Salovey, P., Stroud, L. R. Woolery, A. &Epel, E. S. (2002).Perceived emotional intelligence, stress, reactivity, and symptom reports: Further exploration using trait MetaMood Scale. Psychology and Health, 17, ) Lazarus, A. (2004). Relationships among indicators of child and family resilience and adjustment following the violent trauma: A community survey". Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, PP: ) Armstrong, A. R., Galligan, R. F., & Critchley, C. R. (2011). Emotional intelligence and psychological resilience to negative life events. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, ) Weena, C. (2003). Effects of communication skills training on parents and young adolescents from extreme family types. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 4, ) Abedi, Gh, Darvari, S. H., Nadighara, A., Rostami F. The Relationship between Qality of Life and Marriage Satisfaction in Infertile Couples Using Path Analysis. J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci (2014); 24(117): (Persian). 25) Liu, Y., Wang, Z., &Lü, W. (2013). Resilience and affect balance as mediators between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(7), Corresponding author GHOLAM HOSSEIN ENTESAR FOUMANY Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Zanjan branch, Islamic Azad university, Zanjan (Iran)