Emotional intelligence, coping and exam-related stress in Canadian undergraduate students

Abstract

The associations among emotional intelligence (EI), coping, personality and exam-related stress in a group of 475 Canadian undergraduate students were examined. Stress was measured at the start of the semester and again in the pre-exam period. Higher levels of stress were associated with lower scores on EI components, and higher scores on emotion-focused coping and neuroticism. A scale-level factor analysis of the EI and coping subscales produced three composite factors, which each had high loadings from at least one EI and one coping subscale. The associations of the Emotion Regulation factor (high loadings of several EI components and emotion-focused coping) and the Task Focus factor (high loadings of Adaptability EI and task-focused coping) with personality, stress and subjective wellbeing (SWB) were examined using structural equation modelling. The results showed that these factors mediated the effect of personality on stress and SWB.

Coping mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic achievement

“…Trait EI shows a consistent positive relationship to problem-focused coping, with correlations mainly at the r = .30 to .40 level (Austin, Saklofske, & Mastoras, 2010;Downey, Johnston, Hansen, Birney, & Stough 2010;Mikolajczak, Nelis, Hansenne, & Quiodbach, 2008;Mikolajczak, Petrides, & Hurry, 2009;Rogers, Qualter, Phelps, & Gardner, 2006;Saklofske, Austin, Galloway, & Davidson, 2007). Trait EI also shows a consistent negative association with emotion-focused coping, at around the r = -.30 level (Austin et al, 2010;Mikolajczak et al, 2008Mikolajczak et al, , 2009Saklofske et al, 2007).…”

“…Trait EI also shows a consistent negative association with emotion-focused coping, at around the r = -.30 level (Austin et al, 2010;Mikolajczak et al, 2008Mikolajczak et al, , 2009Saklofske et al, 2007). Relationships of trait EI with avoidant coping tend to be trivially small but consistently negative (Austin et al, 2010;Mikolajczak et al, 2009;Rogers et al, 2006).…”

What is students' ideal university instructor personality? An investigation of absolute and relative personality preferences

“…Population averages of the Big Five were calculated from the descriptive statistics published in three previous studies with similar participants as the current study, averaged by the sample size of each study (Austin, Saklofske, & Mastoras, 2010;Oreg, 2003;Wilt, Schalet, & Emily Durbin, 2010).…”

Inteligencia emocional, optimismo y estrategias de afrontamiento en estudiantes universitarios

“…Concretamente, la regulación emocional y la utilización de las emociones, son las dimensiones que tienen una mayor relación con la resolución de problemas. Estos datos concuerdan con otros estudios que también resaltan el papel de la autorregulación y la gestión adecuada de las emociones como una capacidad que facilitaría el uso de estrategias más adaptativas (Austin, Saklofske y Mastoras, 2010;Martínez, Piqueras e Inglés, 2011 Nuestros resultados (r=.40; p<.001) también apoyan la vinculación entre estrategias de afrontamiento y optimismo descrita en la literatura. Las personas optimistas tienen un estilo de afrontamiento al estrés basado en el empleo de estrategias activas, mientras que los pesimistas emplean estrategias de afrontamiento pasivo.…”