The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence And Quality Of
University Life
Sumardjono Padmomartono & Yustinus Windrawanto
Guidance and Counseling Study Program Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga - Indonesia
Email: [email protected]
Abstract
Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been defined by John Mayer and Peter Salovey as the ability to perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional knowledge, and to reflectively regulate emotions so as to promote emotional and intellectual growth. Study offactors predicting one’s success in business reveals the capabilities associated with star performers relative to the average performers according to their technical skills, cognitive abilities and emotional intelligence. Thus emotional intelligence separates “star” performers from the rest denoting emotional intelligence contributes to success above and beyond cognitive abilities and technical skills among businessmen. This correlation study was to determine the relationship between emotional intelligence and the overall quality of university life of Guidance and Counseling students at Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University. Subjects were 112 students enrolled on Mental Health and Theory of Personality. The results revealedstudents’ emotional intelligence andstudents’perception of the overall quality of university life were very significantly correlated strongly and positively (r= 0,672 **, p < 0,001. Further analysis indicated that 89 students (79, 5%) were at the high and very high level of emotional intelligence, while there were 84 students (75%) at the low and high level of their perception of the overall quality of university life. The results suggest the faculty cultivating hardy skills and attitudes towards university learning through developing students’emotional intelligence.
Keywords: emotional intelligence, student’s perception of the overall quality of university life
INTRODUCTION
Rivers, Brackett & Salovey (2008) argued emotional intelligence might influence other aspects of student performance in school. High school students scoring higher on the emotional intelligence scale were less likely to be rated by teachers as having school
work life in Tehran, in which the research finding revealed that there was no total impact from the emotional intelligence on the quality of work life among bank employees, but there was only a partial association between the emotional intelligence and one of the components of the quality of work life named "Social relevance of the work in the life".
The university students’ mental health promotion requires investigating the role of emotional intelligence and its correlates to students’ perception of the quality of university life. However, little is known about the aspects that relate to the quality of university life among university students. Therefore, this study addressed this issue and intended to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence with aspects of the overall
quality of university life, namely students’
psychological hardiness in learning,
students’ learning motivation, students’
perception of the functional value of university education and students’
perception with the faculty among guidance and counseling students at Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University.
The problem addressed in this study that the relationship between
emotional intelligence and the overall quality life of university students is not known. Therefore the research questions were:
1. What was the relationship between emotional intelligence and each aspect as well as the overall quality of university life among guidance and counseling students at Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University?
2. How were the levels of students’
emotional intelligence and perceived quality of university life among guidance and counseling students at Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University in relation to levels of learning motivation, psychological hardiness in learning, perception of the functional value of university education and students’ perception with the faculty?
QUALITY OF UNIVERSITY LIFE
Quality of university life refers
that students possessing psychological hardiness found stressful challenges
‘‘developmentally provocative’’ and
responded to such challenges as opportunities. Students exhibiting psychological hardiness in learning will achieve academic success and will enjoy a high quality of university life. The impact of psychological hardiness in learning may be related to students’ inherent learning
motivation and to their perceptions of the payoff that guidance and counseling education will provide in their professional lives to come.
Quality of university life consists of learning motivation, psychological hardiness in learning, functional value of a university education and perception with the faculty. Motivation is what gets students going, keeps them going, and helps them finish tasks. Motivation refers to three components: expectancy, value, and affect. Expectancy refers to student’s beliefs about one’s ability or skills to
perform the task. Value expresses student’s
beliefs about the importance, interest, and utility of the task. The affective component describes student’s feelings about the self
or emotional reactions to the task (Pintrich, 2003). Motivation helps to establish and increase the quality of cognitive engagement, leading to success
(Blumenfeld, Kempler & Krajcik, 2006). Therefore, learning motivation is the willingness to learn the material presented in a university program. While ability to learn defines what students can do, motivation to learn guides the decision-making process shaping the direction, focus, and level of effort students apply to their learning activities (Cole, Field & Harris, 2004b). Learning motivation enhances educational achievement because students with high motivation to learn develop more effective strategies for learning and exhibit greater commitment to knowledge and skill acquisition (Nguyen and Nguyen, 2010). Therefore, the level of perception with the university improves.
Stress can generate psychological
problems and affect students’ effectiveness
at studying. To overcome challenges initiated by stress, students must be psychologically hardy. Psychological hardiness describesstudents’ commitment,
are interesting incentives to growth (Kobasa, Maddi & Kahn, 1982). During their study at university, students have to focus on completing educational activities such as readings, assignments, projects, and examinations, as well as manage personal matters such as finances and social activities. Students with high levels of psychological hardiness in learning will spend their time and effort in studying. Students feel and act as if they are influential and welcome changes occurring during their lives at university.
Students with high psychological hardiness in learning will be able to control stress in the learning process. This capability helps students transform the stress caused by learning into more enjoyable, developing and maintaining their motivation to do what they need to do. When students have capabilities to overcome the pressure of learning, they will acknowledge the role of their lecturers and classmates in learning.
Value is the key to human exchanges (Sandstrom, Edvardsson, Kristensson & Magnusson, 2008). People exchange something of value in return for something they value more. Values are conceptualized as functional value perceived by students when studying at university. Functional value refers to
students’ expectation that their education
will enhance their future employment or career goals (Ledden, Kalafatis & Samouel, 2007). Students exchange money, time, and entertainment for the contemporaneous pleasure of learning, and also for higher expected future earnings and a more satisfying future professional life. Value reinforces student’s beliefs that guide their behavior in their everyday lives so that students who perceive that studying will give them higher value for their work and lives in the future will be more positive in their attitudes and behavior toward university life.
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Each student differs widely in “the
ability to monitor one’s own and others’
feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to
guide one’s thinking and actions”. The
Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; Law, Wong & Song, 2004) uses the four-branch ability emotional intelligence Mayer and Salovey model (1997), namely self emotion appraisal,
others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion,
four-factor structure had been supported in China (Huang, Chan, Lam & Nan, 2010).
Law, Wong & Song (2004) describe the WLEIS measure: (1) Appraisal and expression of self emotion:
referring to students’ ability to understand
their deep emotions and be able to express them naturally; students having high ability in this area acknowledge their emotions well. (2) Appraisal and
recognition of others’ emotion: denoting to
students’ ability to understand the
emotions of others; students high in this ability are more sensitive to the emotions of others. (3) Regulation of self emotion: concerning students’ ability to regulate their emotions, enabling a rapid recovery from emotional distress; students having high ability in this aspect are able to keep their behavior under control when they have extreme moods. (4) Use of emotion to
facilitate performance: namely students’
ability to make use of their emotions by directing them toward constructive activities; students with great ability in this area maintains positive emotions; make the best use of emotions to facilitate high performance in their study.
METHODS
Subjects
Subjects of this study were 112 students of Guidance and Counseling
Program at Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Satya Wacana Christian University who participated in this study when they attended courses on Theory of Personality and Mental Health conducted by the writer.
Procedures
The participants were given the instrument materials during the regular class on the two courses conducted by the writer. They completed them in a group setting, and returned immediately to the writer when finished.
Instruments
All the subjects completed the 16-items of The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale/WLEIS (Wong & Law, 2004) and the 17 items of The Quality of College Life/QCL (Nguyen, Shultz & Westbrook, 2011). The WLEIS exhibited high internal consistency (Cronbach’s
Alpha value was 0,870, the lowest item coefficient validity was 0,314 and the highest was 0,649). The QCL also shown high internal consistency (Cronbach’s
Alpha value was 0,804, the lowest item coefficient validity was 0,350 and the highest was 0,563).
RESULTS
The Overall Quality of the University
Level of Students’ Perception to the
Overall Quality of the University Life
(N = 112 students)
Level Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
19 17,0 100,0
Total 112 100,0
Minimum
Deviation = 8,858 There were 84 students (75%) mentioned that their perception with the overall quality of the university life were low up to high.
The following table conveyed levels of students’ learning motivation, psychological hardiness, perception of the functional value of the education, of the four aspects of the quality of the university life.
Level of Students’ Learning Motivation (N = 112 students)
Level Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
22 19,6 100,0
Total 112 100,0
Minimum
Deviation = 3.421
There were 79 students (70,5%) mentioned that their learning motivation were low up to high.
Level of Students’ Psychological Hardiness (N = 112 students)
Level Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
25 22,3 100,0
Total 112 100,0
Minimum
Deviation = 3.544 There were 76 students (67,9%) stated that their psychological hardiness were high up to very high.
Level of Students’ Perception of the Functional Value of Education (N = 112 students)
15-64 57,1 100,0
Total 112 100,0
Minimum
Deviation = 3.069 There were 87 students (77,7%) perceived that the functional value of their education were high up to very high.
Level of Students’ Perception with the Faculty (N = 112 students)
Level Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
6-7=very low
5 4,5 4,5
8-9=low 33 29,5 33,9
10-39 34,8 100,0
Total 112 100,0
Minimum
Deviation = 2,688
There were 74 students (66,1%) stated that their perception with the faculty were high up to very high.
Emotional Intelligence
There were 89 students (79,5%) at high and very high level of emotional intelligence, meaning students had high ability to understand their emotions,
appraise others’ emotion, recognize and
understand other people’s emotions,
motivate oneself to enhance performance and to regulate emotions.
Level of Students’ Emotional
Intelligence (N = 112 students)
Level Frequency Percent Cumulative Percent
30 26.8 100.0
Total 112 100.0
Minimum
Deviation = 9.122 There were 89 students (79,5%) on the high up to very high emotional intelligence level.
Relationship between Emotional
Intelligence and Each Aspect of the
Quality of the University Life
Spearman Rho correlation indicated there were significant strong positive relationship between emotional
intelligence and students’ overall of the quality of university life, and significant moderate positive relationship between
emotional intelligence and students’
learning motivation as well as students’
psychological hardiness. But there were significant weak positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
students’ functional value of the education
Spearman's rho Correlations among
Emotional Intelligence and Aspects of
the Quality of University Life (N = 112
students)
Spearman's rho (Correlation Coefficient & Sig. (2-tailed)
Results
Aspects of
Quality of
University Life
Emotional Intelligence
Overall of the
quality of
university life
0,672** 0,000
There was a
significant strong positive
relation-ship between
emotional
intelli-gence and
There was a
significant moderate positive relationship between emotional
intelligence and students’ learning motivation.
Psychological hardiness
0,578** 0,000
There was a
significant moderate positive relationship between
emotional
intelli-gence and
students’ psychological hardiness.
Functional value of the education
0,382** 0,000
There was a
significant weak positive
relation-ship between
emotional
intelli-gence and
students’
functional value of the education.
Students’
perception with the faculty
0,262** 0,005
There was a
significant weak positive
relation-ship between
emotional
intelligence and students’
perception with the faculty.
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
Cross Tabulation of Level of Emotional
Intelligence and Level of Students
Overall Perceptions of the Quality of the
University Life (N=112 students)
62-Result: Out of 49 students at the high level of emotional intelligence, there were 24 students viewed themselves at the low and 25 students at the high level of the quality of the university life.
Cross Tabulation of Level of Emotional
Intelligence and
Level of Learning Motivation (N=112
students)
Level of Emotional Intelligence high level of emotional intelligence, there were 19 students at the low and 28 students at the high level of learning motivation.
Cross Tabulation of Level of Emotional
Intelligence and
Level of Psychological Hardiness
(N=112 students)
gical high level of emotional intelligence, there were 13 students at the low and 28 students at the high level of psychological hardiness.
Discussion
This study examined the direct relationship between emotional intelligence of Guidance and Counseling
students’ with their perceptions of each aspect and overall quality of university life. The statistical analysis indicated that 79,5% (89 students) had high to very high level of emotional intelligence and 75%
(84 students) at the low up and high level of their perception of the overall quality of university life. Since there was a significant strong positive relationship between emotional intelligence and
students’ overall perceptions of the quality of university life, further analysis through cross tabulation indicated that, there were 89 students (79,5%) who are at the high and very high level of emotional intelligence, there are 49 (43,8%) students view themselves at the low and high, and 27 (24,1%) students at the high and very high level of the overall quality of the university life.
Furthermore, there was significant moderate positive relationship between
emotional intelligence and students’
learning motivation as well as students’
psychological hardiness. This study also proved that students who had high emotional intelligence, i.e. could perceive and understand their own emotions and emotions of others and could manage their emotional behavior, performed well in their academic work and developed more positive attitude toward learning.
This research result was not support Karimi, Daraei, Farajzadeh (2015) research finding which revealed there was no total impact from the emotional intelligence on the quality of work life among bank employees, though there was only a partial association between the emotional intelligence and one of the components of the quality of work life named "Social relevance of the work in the life". In contrary, this research proved that there was a significant strong positive relationship between emotional
intelligence and students’ overall
perceptions of the quality of university life.
Implications of the findings
Psychological hardiness in learning and learning motivation played a role in determining student’s perception to the quality of the university learning. These results suggested the faculty should enhancestudent’sperception to the quality of the university learning, particularly, in cultivating hardy skills and attitudes
towards learning through developing
student’s emotional intelligence. Lectures should focus on teaching emotional intelligence as a strategy to develop academic behaviors and attitudes of students in educational institutions. When students were educated to be emotionally and socially intelligent, their general performance might be improved.
Based on the findings from this study, it was feasible to enhance appropriate behaviors and attitudes of students, in short, setting and achieving personal academic goals and developed their potentials, to be realistically positive and optimistic during their study. Research would be needed in this area to examine the best and most lasting effects for increasing student’s perception of the functional value of the education and
students’perception with the faculty.
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