A Study of Emotional Maturity and Self Efficacy among University Students

Article International Journal of Modern Social Sciences, 2015, 4(2): 165-173 International Journal of Modern Social Sciences Journal homepage: www.modernscientificpress.com/journals/ijmss.aspx ISSN: 2169-9917 Florida, USA A Study of Emotional Maturity and Self Efficacy among University Students Mohd Owais Khan 1, Mohd Ilyas Khan 2, Muzafar Hussain Kawa 3, Mahvish Fatima 4, Sabiha Baby 5 1 Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P) 2 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P) 3 Research Scholar, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P) 4 Guest Teacher, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P) 5 Post Doctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh (U.P) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: owaiskhan1988@gmail.com Article history: Received 8 September 2015, Revised 22 October 2015, Accepted 25 November 2015, Published 2 December 2015. Abstract: The present study is an attempt to assess emotional maturity and self-efficacy as well as to find out the relationship between emotional maturity and self-efficacy among University students. University students were also compared on emotional maturity and selfefficacy with respect to their gender. The sample of the study consists of 100 students (males=50, females=50) belonging to various departments of The general Self efficacy scale (Schwarzer and Jerusalem, 1995) and emotional maturity scale by Yashvir Singh and Mahesh Bhargava (1971) were used in the present study. The data was analyzed by using appropriate statistical techniques like Pearson s product moment correlation and t-test. The result revealed that significant negative correlation exist between self-efficacy and emotional immaturity, emotional instability, emotional regression and personality disintegration whereas insignificant correlation was found between self-efficacy and social maladjustment and lack of independence. Further the results revealed that there was insignificant difference in self efficacy, emotional immaturity, emotional instability, emotional regression, personality disintegration and whereas significant difference was found in lack of independence and social maladjustment among the students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to gender. Keywords: Emotional Maturity, Gender, Self-Efficacy and University Students.

166 1. Introduction 1.1. Emotional Maturity The ability of human beings to manage their emotions in order to cope with stressful situations is termed as emotional maturity. Those individuals who are emotionally immature are unable to adjust themselves as per the need of the situations and it will lead them towards deteriorated mental and physical health. Emotional maturity is an ability to understand and manage our emotions which makes us able creates the life we desire i.e., a pleasant and fulfilled life. Our emotional maturity level exhibits via our thoughts and behaviors. It is our emotional maturity level which determine our ability to cope when we undergone in difficult situations. Emotional maturity is the ability to bear tension and it is the ability to develop high tolerance for disagree circumstance (Brownfain, 1999). Kaplan and Baron (1986) elaborate the characteristics of an emotionally mature person say that he has the capacity to withstand delay in satisfaction of needs. He has the ability to tolerate the reasonable amount of frustration an emotionally mature child has the capacity to make effective adjustment with himself, members of his family, his peers in the school, society and culture. But majority means not merely the capacity for such attitude and functioning but also the ability to enjoy them fully. Other marks are indifferent toward certain kinds of stimuli that affect the child or adolescent and he develops moodiness and sentimentality. Besides, emotionally mature person persist the capacity for fun and creation. He enjoys both play and responsibility activities and keeps them in proper balance There are some factors which influence the emotional maturity i.e. Emotional Stability, Emotional Progression, Emotional Immaturity, Social Maladjustment, Personality Disintegration and Lack of Independence. All the above mentioned factors play a significant role in determining the level of emotional maturity. So it is imperative to become acquainted about all of these factors in brief. 1.1.1. Emotional stability It notifies the flexibility and adaptability on the part of the person or pupil in situations which require emotional control. It has been emphasized that the emotionally stable individual has the capacity to withstand delay in satisfaction of needs, ability to tolerate a reasonable amount of frustration, belief in long term planning and is capable of delaying or revising his expectations in terms of demands of the situations. An emotionally stable child has a capacity to make effective adjustments with himself, members of the family, and his peers in the school, society and culture. So the person who is emotionally stable will exhibit more emotional maturity in stressful situations as compare to emotionally unstable person. 1.1.2. Social maladjustment

167 It refers to the condition in which an individual is not able to adjust socially with other members of the society and due to this inability an individual spend more of his/her time in isolation or remains unexpressive even when in group. Those individuals who are socially maladjusted eventually show less signs of emotional maturity because of their inability to express their feelings in front of others. 1.1.3. Emotional progression The characteristic of a person that refers to the feeling of adequate advancement and growing vitality of emotions in relation to the environment to ensure a positive thinking imbued with righteousness and contentment. 1.1.4. Personality disintegration Personality disintegration refers to a swift breakdown of character and cohesive whole into disorganized form due to specifically distressing life scenarios. An individual whose character is not organized into cohesive whole is more vulnerable to be the victim of emotional imbalance in his/her life. 1.1.5. Lack of independence The shortage and absence of something required or desired is termed as lack. Lack of independence is that facet of emotional maturity which indicates the shortage or absence of independence. When an individual encountering with absence of independence it will eventually inhibit his/her ability or competency to perform a task, reach a goal, or overcome an obstacle 1.2. Self- Efficacy Self-efficacy means to measure your ability to reach goals, and to complete tasks that are given. It can also be defined as the ability to perform in a certain specific manner to attain specific goals. In order to understand the concept of self-efficacy more clearly some definitions of the term is mentioned in this paper. According to Bandura (1977), Self-efficacy is a person s evaluation of his or her ability or competency to perform a task, reach a goal, or overcome an obstacle. Nebitt (2009) propounded that Self efficacy is a person s ability to take knowledge and skill and then change it into a positive coping strategy. Jerusalem and Mittag (1995) proposed that Self efficacy is considered changeable and less stable in young adults such as college individuals, even though self-efficacy is viewed as a personality trait. Self-efficacy beliefs are defined as an individual s judgments about his or her capabilities to organize and execute courses of action required to attain designated performances. (Bandura, 1986). 1.3. Rationale of the Study

168 Emotional development is considered as one of the major aspects of human growth and development. As long as the previous studies are concerned it has been found that Emotional Maturity is one of the important reasons for instability in the active life of an individual, which it is crucial to maintain growth and development of an individual or a group of people in the society. For instance A Study on the Emotional maturity of higher secondary school students was conducted by Lakshmi and Krishnamurthy (2011) which shows that Higher Secondary Students who are studying in various schools of Coimbatore District are Emotionally Unstable. Hence, it is necessary to know Emotional Maturity Level of the student. An another study carried by Jan Nuzhat (2013) to compare the emotional maturity of Male and Female University Distance Learners and revealed that female students have emotional instability as compare to their male counterparts. So it is indispensible to conduct more studies to find out the difference male and female students related to emotional maturity and its facets. The studies conducted by Zimmerman (1995), Hirose, Wada & Watanabe (1999) also highlight the importance of self-efficacy in various settings. It is to be noted that, very less research has been done for the assessment of these constructs on the sample group of students studying in 1.4. Objectives of the Study 1). To study relationship between self-efficacy and facets of emotional maturity (i.e., emotional instability, emotional regression, emotional immaturity, social maladjustment, personality disintegration, lack of independence) of the students of 2). To study the difference between male and female students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to emotional instability, emotional regression, emotional immaturity, social maladjustment, personality disintegration, lack of independence and self-efficacy. 2. Hypothesis Ho1: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and emotional instability of students of Ho2: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and emotional regression of students of Ho3: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and social maladjustment of students of Ho4: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and personality disintegration of students of Ho5: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and lack of independence of students of

169 Ho6: There is no significant correlation between self-efficacy and emotional immaturity of students of Ho7: There is no significant difference in emotional instability of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho8: There is no significant difference in emotional regression of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho9: There is no significant difference in social maladjustment of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho10: There is no significant difference in personality disintegration of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho11: There is no significant difference in lack of independence of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho12: There is no significant difference in emotional immaturity of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. Ho13: There is no significant difference in self-efficacy of students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to their gender. 3. Methodology 3.1. Sample The sample of the present study consisted of 100 students of Aligarh Muslim University selected from different departments of The purposive sampling technique was used for the present study. 3.2. Tools Used Emotional Maturity Scale (Singh and Bhargava, 1971) (EMS) was developed by Dr. Yashvir Singh and Mahesh Bhargava in 1971. The scale consists of 48 items, under 5 categories i.e. emotional instability, emotional regression, social maladjustment, personality disintegration and lack of independence. It is a self-reporting 5- point scale the items of the scale are categorized in 5 options very much, much, undecided, probably and never. An item is scored 5 for very much, 4 for much, 3 for undecided, 2 for probably and 1 for never. Therefore higher the score, the greater will be the degree of emotional immaturity and vice versa. The reliability and validity of the scale is.75 and.64 respectively. General Self Efficacy Scale (Jerusalem, M. and Schwarzer, R. 1979): General Self-Efficacy scale was originally developed in German version by Matthias Jerusalem and Ralf Schwarzer in 1979. Later the scale was revised and adapted to 26 other languages by various co- authors in 1995. The usually

170 is self-administered, it consists of 10 items. Items had a response range from 1 (not at all true) to 4 (exactly true). The internal consistency of this scale ranges from.76 to.90. 3.3. Statistical Analysis The information/responses collected from the respondents were subjected to various statistical treatments. The data was analyzed by using SPSS 16.0. Statistical techniques used for analyzing data were correlation and t-test. Pearson s product moment correlation was used to study correlation between self-efficacy and emotional maturity. t-test was also used to study the difference between students in self-efficacy, emotional immaturity and its facets (emotional instability, emotional regression, social maladjustment, personality disintegration, lack of independence) with respect to their gender. 4. Results and Discussion From table 1, after the analysis of data that there is a significant negative correlation between self-efficacy and emotional instability (r = -.215, p <.002), self-efficacy and emotional regression (r = -.261, p <.001), self-efficacy and emotional immaturity (r = -.241, p <.001) and between self-efficacy and personality disintegration (r = -.268, p <.001) Thus, our null hypotheses 1,2,4 and 6 stands rejected whereas an insignificant correlation was found between self- efficacy and lack of independence (r=.142, p<.065) and between self-efficacy and social maladjustment (r =.124, p <.80). Thus our null hypotheses 3 and 5 stands accepted. Table 1: Showing the Pearson s Correlation Coefficient(r) Between Self-Efficacy, Emotional Instability, Emotional Regression, Emotional Immaturity, Personality Disintegration, Lack of Independence and Social Maladjustment of the Sample Group Variables Self-efficacy -.215* (p <.001) Emotional instability Self-efficacy -.261* (p <.001) Emotional Regression Self-efficacy -.241* (p <.001) Emotional immaturity Self-efficacy -.260* (p <.001) Personality disintegration Self-efficacy.142 NS (p <.065) Lack of independence Self-efficacy.124 NS (p <.080) Social maladjustment NS= Insignificant, *.P<0.05 Level of Significance

171 It is evident from the results in table 2 that there is no significant difference in Emotional instability, Emotional Regression, Personality Disintegration, Emotional Immaturity and Self- Efficacy among the students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to gender. The values of t and p for Emotional instability, Emotional Regression, Personality Disintegration, Emotional Immaturity and Self- Efficacy were (t=.108, p =.914), (t=.754, p =.452), (t=.941, p=.348), (t=.920, p=.359) and (t=.33, p=.094) respectively which illustrates that hypotheses 7,8,10,12 and 13 stands accepted whereas there is significant difference in Lack of independence and social maladjustment among the students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to gender. The value of t and p for Lack of independence and social maladjustment were (t= 2.36, p=.019) and (t = 6.61, p=.001) which exemplified that our hypotheses 9 and 11 stands rejected. Table 2: Mean scores of Emotional instability, Emotional Regression, social maladjustment Personality Disintegration, lack of Independence, Emotional Immaturity and Self- Efficacy among the students of Aligarh Muslim University with respect to gender Variables Gender N M SD df t-value Emotional instability Emotional Regression Male 50 27.28 6.59 98.108 NS Female 50 27.27 6.53 Male 50 22.82 7.10 98.754 NS Female 50 23.54 6.37 Self- Efficacy Male 50 22.93 5.57 98.33 NS Personality Disintegration Emotional Immaturity Lack of Independence Social maladjustment Total N=100; *.P<0.05 Level of Significance Female 50 22.60 5.55 Male 50 19.92 6.82 98.941 NS Female 50 19.1 5.4 Male 50 19.15 5.15 98.920 NS Female 50 17.59 4.14 Male 50 105.01 25.26 98 2.36* Female 50 108.1 22.13 Male 50 35.63 5.108 98 6.61* Female 50 29.47 4.63 The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship of self-efficacy with emotional maturity and its facets (Emotional instability, Emotional Regression, social maladjustment Personality Disintegration, lack of Independence, Emotional Immaturity) among the students of Aligarh Muslim University and difference among all the above mentioned variables with respect to gender. It was

172 revealed after the analysis of data that significant negative correlation was found between self-efficacy and emotional instability, self-efficacy and emotional regression, self-efficacy and personality disintegration, self-efficacy and emotional immaturity whereas insignificant correlation was found between self-efficacy and social maladjustment and self-efficacy and lack of independence. 5. Conclusion It is concluded that self-efficacy increases significantly with the decline emotional instability, emotional regression, personality disintegration and emotional immaturity. It has also been concluded that there was no change in self-efficacy with the change in social maladjustment and lack of independence. It was also revealed from the results that insignificant difference were found between male and female students in emotional immaturity, emotional instability, emotional regression & personality disintegration while significant difference were found in lack of independence and social maladjustment with respect to gender. Females have been reported with more lack of independence and social adjustment as compare to their male counterparts. A study by Mahanta & Kannan (2015) finds out the difference between male and female on emotional maturity. The findings of the study revealed that females scored higher on emotional maturity as compare to their male counterparts which support the findings of our study. Rani and Kumari (2014) conducted a study on Emotional Maturity of D.Ed. Students in Relation to their Adjustment and the results of the study revealed that girls were having higher mean scores for emotional maturity than the boys. Sinha (2014) also concluded in her study that male and female students differ significantly in emotional maturity which supports our findings with other above mentioned studies. References Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy towards a unifying theory of behavior change. Psychological Review, 34 (2): 191-215. Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action. Engle wood cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Brownfain, J.J. (1999). Stability of the Self-conception as a dimension of Personality, J. Abnorm Soc. Psychol. 47: 597-606. Hirose, E. L., Wada, S., & Watanabe, H. (1999). Effects of self-efficacy on adjustment to college. Jap. Psychol. Res., 41: 163-172. Jerusalem, M., & Mittag, W. (1995). Self-efficacy in stressful life transitions. Self-efficacy in changing societies, 177-201. Jerusalem, M., & Schwarzer, R. (1979). Self-efficacy as a resource factor in stress appraisal.

173 Kaplan and Baron (1986). Status quo of Emotions and Emotional behaviour. Retrieved from wikieducator.org/status_quo_of_emotions_and_emotional_behaviour. Lakshmi, S., & Krishnamurthy, S. (2011). A Study on the Emotional Maturity of Higher Secondary School Students. International Journal of Current Research. 3(4): 183-185. Mahanta, D., & Kannan, V. (2015). Emotional Maturity and Adjustment in First Year Undergraduates of Delhi University: An Empirical Study. Indian Journal of Psychological Science, 5 (2): 84-90. Nebitt, V. (2009). Self- efficacy in African American adolescent males living in urban public housing. Journal of Black Psychology, 35 (3): 295-316 Nuzhat, J. (2013). Emotional Maturity of Male and Female Kashmir University of India Distance Learners-A Comparative Study. Journal of Culture, Society and Development. 2: 24-28 Rani, R., & Kumari, M. (2014). A Study of Emotional Maturity of D.Ed. Students in Relation to their Adjustment. Indian journal of applied research. 4 (9): 1-3 Sinha, V.K. (2014). A Study of Emotional Maturity and Adjustment of College Student. Indian Journal of Applied Research, 4(5): 594-595. Singh, Y., & Bhargava, M. (1971), Manual for Emotional Maturity Scale, Agra. National Psychological Corporation. Zimmerman, B. J. (1995). Self-efficacy and educational development. In A. Bandura (Ed.), Self-efficacy in changing societies. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press. Pp. 202-231.