International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol.

24, Issue 10, 2020

ISSN: 1475-7192

Emotional Intelligence In Relation To Stress

Management of Higher Secondary Students
1
Prof.Dr.K.Geetha **,2Dr.T.Komalavalli*

Abstract---Most researchers have investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence and
academic stress among school students(Kauts, 2018;Baqutayan,Ghafar and Gul, 2017). The purpose of
the study is to investigate the emotional intelligence in relation stress management of higher secondary
students. In order to measure emotional intelligence, Emotional Intelligence Inventory Dr. S.K.Mangal
and Mrs. ShubhraMangal and for assessing the level of stress management, scale constructed and
standardized byDr.S.Malathi, Dr.S.Vasanthi&Dr.S.Chamundeswari (2008) were used. A sample
consisted of two hundred and sixty adolescent students participated in this research who were selected
by random sampling. In order to analyze data, Pearson’s correlation and t-test were used. Findings
revealed that there is significant correlation between emotional intelligence and stress management of
higher secondary students. It is revealed a significant difference exists with respect to gender and girls
were more in emotional intelligence and stress management level than boys. With regard to type of
school, it is observed that Government and private school students were similar in emotional intelligence
but in stress management level, Government school students were effective in managing their stress than
private school students. Based on the findings, recommendations were made.

Keywords--- Emotional Intelligence, Stress Management, Gender, Type of School.

I INTRODUCTION

The rapid development of this era is very challenging for the adolescents to face the wave of globalization.
Thus, the ability to control the emotions has becomeimportant for not getting carried away by the flow of negative
elements. Nowadays, the school finds itself intertwined in efforts to complete the syllabus and fails toallocate time
to take care the emotional needs of the students and to makethem emotionally intelligent. This has also resulted in
deterioration of theperformance of the child, his achievements and his adjustments. This situation has given rise to
increase the level of stress among adolescents. The tougher the competitionand higher aspiration of parents and
teachers, the students tend to developemotional disorders in them. Therefore, teaching emotional and social skills
arevery important at school level.

Emotional intelligence allows us to think more critically and enhance better decision making skills to solve
problems.An emotionallyintelligent person is skilled in four areas i.e. identifying emotions, usingemotions,
understanding emotions, and regulating emotions. Higgs (2000)agreed that emotional intelligence is about
identifying own feelings and beingable to handle those feelings; being able to motivate ourselves to get the
jobdone, be creative and perform at our level best; be sensitive and be able tohandle relationships effectively.

** Principal, Faculty of Education, Dr.M.G.R. Educational and Research Institute, Maduravoyal, Chennai-95. E-mail: kgeethamano@gmail.com
*Assistant Professor, School of Education, VISTAS, Pallavaram, Chennai-117., E-mail: komalaravi12@gmail.com

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1243
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

Emotional Intelligence has been defined as ability forrecognizing one's own feelings better than others,
motivate ourselves and havethe ability to manage one's own emotions and relationships (Goleman,
2005).Woolfolk, etal. (2008) defined emotional intelligence as the ability to processemotional information
accurately and efficiently. Emotional intelligence is a setof abilities that enables individuals to organize and
manage the emotions ofthemselves and others. This intelligence includes understanding our ownfeelings and using
them for taking appropriate decisions in personal andbusiness aspects of our lives. It also determines the
appropriate type of

relationship that is appropriate for a profession or occupation. Goleman stated that emotional intelligence is the
talent, skill, or ability, which deeply affects allindividual abilities.

Emotional intelligence is a highly important skill that numerousindividuals have accounted for their success. It
involves the integration of headand heart. The concept of emotional intelligence predominantly deals with
thefollowing areas:

 The ability to understand and express emotions constructively.

 The ability to understand other's feelings and establish cooperativeinterpersonal relationships.
 The ability to manage and regulate emotions in an effective manner.
 The ability to cope realistically with new situations and solve problems of apersonal and interpersonal nature as
they arise.
 The ability to be sufficiently optimistic, positive and self-motivated inorder to set and achieve goals.

Therefore, emotional intelligence is the ability to acquire and applyknowledge from our own emotions and the
emotions of others in order to bemore successful and lead a more fulfilling life. Researchers assert thatemotional
intelligence plays an important role in perception of how a personcarries himself and connects with others.

Stress is being experienced by everyone and particularly by present generation students. Stress Management
has become the need of the hour. Managing stress is also a skill which the students have to develop. Stress among
the adolescents can be crucial in the well-being of the family as a whole. Stress can be caused due to many factors,
may be external or internal factors. Especially stress in the adolescence can be very taxing on the parents and the
adolescents themselves. During adolescence period, boys and girls go through lot of turmoil. The reasons for stress
during adolescence as per the review of literature are because of disturbed family relationships, peer
pressure,inability to cope with studies, drug abuse and lack of competence. One of the important trends which are
being observed is getting interest over electronic media and gadgets. The involvement of adolescents in getting
instant gratification of needs has led to lot of stress in them and in their relationships with family and peers. This
leads to wrong decisions such as suicide, irritation over life etc. Hence, this is the right time to inculcate stress
management skills among the adolescent students who are going to be the future pillars of our country.

II NEED OF THE STUDY

Adolescence is the period of storm and stress. As adolescents, students studying in higher secondary
classes face so many stressful situations not only from academic side, but also age related disturbances. At this

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1244
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

stage, they make wrong decisions and unaware of how to tackle the stressful situations. Hence, this is the correct
time to make them aware of the stress management techniques. If the student is emotionally strong and intelligent,
then he will be able to face the stressful situationswith ease. Hence, the investigator felt the dire need to study the
emotional intelligence and stress management of higher secondary students in Chennai district.

III REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

DeepaSikandKauts (2018) found a negative correlation between emotional intelligence and stress and boys
have less stress when compared to girls. He also observed that high emotionally intelligent students experience
less stress than low emotionally intelligent students.

Baqutayan, Ghafar and Gul (2017) examined the relationship between stress and emotional intelligence among
postgraduate students in University Technology Malaysia and found a low negative relationship between stress and
emotional intelligence among the students. He revealed that the students use emotional intelligence as a coping
mechanism to manage stress.

Miri et al. (2013) studied the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic stress in students of
medical sciences and concluded that there was no significant relationship exists between the scores of emotional
intelligence and academic stress among students. He observed that Emotional Intelligence growth in students can
promote their success, but it cannot reduce academic stress by itself which was particularly significant in females.

Fallahzadeh (2011) explored the relationship between emotional intelligence andacademicachievement in

medical science students in Iran and found that there exist significant relationship between emotional intelligence
and academic achievement but their level of emotional intelligence is low. Many researchers have studied the
relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement (Lam & Kirby, 2002;Singh, Verma&
Singh, 2014;Prezerakos, 2015) and found significant positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
academic achievement

Hence, from the above outlined theoretical framework, the problem of the study is stated as “Emotional
Intelligence in relation to Stress Management of Higher Secondary Students.”

IV METHOD AND SAMPLE OF THE STUDY

Descriptive survey was used for conducting the research study. A sample of 260 students studying at higher
secondary level in Chennai city were selected through random sampling technique. Among 260 students, 140
students were studying in private schools and 120 students were from Government schools. The sampling design
were as follows.

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1245
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

No. of
students 260

Government Private
120 140

Boys Girls Boys Girls

55 65 64 76

Fig.1 Random Sampling Design

V RESEARCH Q UESTIONS

The following research questions were formulated to guide this study.

 What is the level of emotional intelligence and stress management of higher secondary students?
 Is there any significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress management of higher secondary
students?
 Is there any significant difference in emotional intelligence and stress management with respect to gender and
type of school?

VI INSTRUMENTS USED

In the present investigation, for assessing the emotionalintelligence of students, Emotional Intelligence
Inventory Dr. S.K.Mangal and Mrs. ShubhraMangal was used. It consists of 100 items. It comprises of four
components each having 25 items. The participantswere required to respond either ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Thisinventory
measuring emotional intelligence on 4 areas

namely: a) Intra-personal awareness b) Inter-personalawareness c) Intra-personal management and d)

Interpersonalmanagement. A score of one mark isprovided for the response indicating the presence ofemotional
intelligence and zero for the absence ofemotional intelligence and these scores provided. For negative items,
scoring was reversed.The reliability of this inventory was 0.89 which is highly reliable.

For assessing the students’ stress management, scale constructed and standardized by Dr.S.Malathi,
Dr.S.Vasanthi&Dr.S.Chamundeswari (2008) was used. It consists of 44 items with a four point scale i.e. Always,
Often, Sometimes and Never. The scoring procedure was as follows.

Always – 4, Often - 3, Sometimes – 2, Never - 1.

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1246
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

The maximum possible score is 176. With the help of the total dimension scores, each individual could be
placed under any one of the following groups according to the stress management strategies used by the students.

1. Good (113-176)

2. Very Fair (88-132)

3. Fair (45-88)

4. Poor (01-44)

The reliability of the inventory was 0.762 which shows that the tool is highly reliable.

VII ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA

Research Question 1: What is the level of emotional intelligence and stress management of higher secondary
students?

Table 1 showing the level of Emotional Intelligence and Stress Management

Variable Level Frequency Percent

Emotional Intelligence Low 112 43.07

Moderate 92 35.40

High 56 21.53

Stress Management Low 104 40.00

Moderate 95 36.54

High 61 23.46

From the values obtained in the above table, it is inferred that 43% of students have low emotional intelligence
and 40% of students fall under low level of stress management. Hence, it is understood that more number of
students have low emotional intelligence and less in managing theirstress.

Research Question 2: Is there any significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress
management of higher secondary students?

Table 2 showing correlation co-efficient between Emotional Intelligence and Stress Management of
higher secondary students

Variable Emotional Intelligence Stress Management

Emotional Intelligence - 0.453**

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1247
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

From the table value, it is evident that there exists significant positive correlation between emotional
intelligence and stress management of higher secondary students which is significant at 0.01 level. Hence, it is
observed that higher the emotional intelligence, higher the stress management. This is in line with the findings of
the study conducted by Habeeb (2015) in which revealed a significant and positive relationship between emotional
intelligence and stress management among adolescent students.

Research Question 3: Is there any significant difference in emotional intelligence and stress management with
respect to gender and type of school?

Table 3 showing mean difference between boys and girls in Emotional Intelligence and Stress
Management

Gender
Variables
Boys (N=119) Girls (N=141) t value P value

Mean SD Mean SD

Emotional Intelligence 78.52 7.254 86.53 8.521 5.874 <0.001**

Stress Management 148.92 11.567 151.87 10.733 4.044 <0.001**

From the values presented in the above table, it is inferred that there is significant difference exists between
boys and girls in emotional intelligence and stress management which is significant at 0.01 level. From the mean
scores, it is evident that girls were more emotionally intelligent than boys. This finding is in disagreement with the
finding of AnupamaKatoch (2013) who also found that secondary school boys and girls do not differ significantly
on emotional intelligence and Suresh(2014) who also found that male and female student teachers do not
significantly differ in their Emotional Intelligence.

It is observed from the mean scores that girls are high in managing stress than boys. This finding is
consistent with the findings of Habeeb (2015) where he found that females are high in their stress management
level. Also, the finding of Lawrence, Ashford, and Dent (2006) found that males exhibited greater tendency to
detach themselves from the emotions of a situation and be emotionally inhibited while females achieved at
significantly higher level than males.

Table 4 showing mean difference between the students studying in Government and Private schools in
Emotional Intelligence and Stress Management
Gender
Variables
t
Government (N=120) Private (N=140) P value
value
Mean SD Mean SD

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1248
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

Emotional Intelligence 78.52 7.254 77.32 7.12 1.032 0.060

1

Stress Management 151.04 10.93 148.3 11.5 5.215 0.006**

2 8

From the values presented in the above table, it is inferred that there is no significant difference between the
students studying in Government and Private schools in Emotional Intelligence. Hence, it is observed that they are
similar in their level of emotional intelligence and management does not have any impact on emotional
intelligence. This is in line with the findings of Reddy and Rao (2018) where he found that there is no significant
difference in the emotional intelligence of secondary school teachers. This is in contrast to the findings of
Baqutayan, Ghafar and Gul (2017) where they found that students use emotional intelligence as a coping
mechanism to manage stress.

VIII DISCUSSION

From the findings of the study, it is found that there is significant relationship between emotional intelligence
and stress management. Hence, it is evident that if the students are emotionally intelligent, they will be able to deal
the stress effectively. Also, it is found that most of the present generation students are having low level of
emotional intelligence and coping strategies towards stress. Because of this, they take hasty decisions like ending
up their life etc. Nowadays, for no reason, students are trying to commit suicide without knowing how to manage
the stressful situations effectively. Hence it is the need of the hour to enhance them with coping skills.

Each student has to practice the 4A’s of stress managementi.eavoid, alter, adapt, or accept.One has to avoid
unnecessary stress that come across our lives.If one person can't avoid a stressful situation, just try to alter it.
Often, this involves changing the way to communicate and operate in the daily life. Each student has to find a
balance between studies and other activities, social activities and daily responsibilities. If one can't change the
stressor, change ourselves. One can adapt to stressful situations and regain the sense of control by changing our
expectations and attitude. Finally, one has to accept the things that can’t be changed.

IX CONCLUSION

The current study has given some important implications for educational practice. This study demonstrated that
one’s emotional intelligence plays a significant role in managing the stress. Many practical stress management
techniques are available such as yoga which may help an individual reduce their levels of stress, provide positive
feelings of control over one's life and promote general well-being. During the adolescent period, if the students are
able to manage the stress effectively, then they will shine well in the future. There are several models of stress
management, each with distinctive explanations of mechanisms for controlling stress. Much more research is
necessary to provide a better understanding of which mechanisms actually operate and are effective in practice.

Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1249
International Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, Vol. 24, Issue 10, 2020
ISSN: 1475-7192

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Received: 27 Feb 2019 | Revised: 20 Mar 2019 | Accepted: 30 Apr 2020 1250