Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Social Skills and Peer Harassment. A Study with High School Students

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between emotional intelligence and social skills, and how these two variables influence bullying. In this study, 912 Spanish high school students, 471 boys and 441 girls aged 14–16 years, participated, who were administered the Spanish version of the Trait Meta Mood Scale 24, the “Bateria de socialización BAS-3” and the Peer Harassment Questionnaire. To analyse the results, a structural equation model was made. The results reflected a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and social skills (B = 0.44, p < 0.001), and a negative relationship with respect to bullying (B = −0.56, p < 0.001). In turn, social skills reflected a negative relationship with respect to bullying (B = −0.38, p < 0.001). These results reflect the need to implement educational programs focused on the development of emotional intelligence in the classroom, as a means to try to stop bullying behaviours in the classroom.

Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Cybervictimization, and Academic Performance in Secondary School Students

“…Authors such as Poulou [72] indicate that students who have high EI use, understand, and manage their emotions better; they display a lower degree of indiscipline and aggression, are less hostile in class, engage in prosocial behaviors, and achieve better academic performance. Students who have a greater ability to recognize the emotional state of others show better social relationships with peers, greater confidence, and better-perceived competence [45,73]. On the contrary, students with low emotional control and management are associated with high levels of victimization [74].…”

“…In short, a lack of EI skills affects the behaviors of adolescents [46]-it is positively associated with cybervictimization [53], low levels of well-being, and low psychological adjustment among young individuals [45].…”

“…These programs should place emphasis on observers, raising awareness of the importance of their role in eradicating cyberbullying in all its forms. Promoting emotional education in the classroom will make students understand their emotions and those of their classmates better, providing them with alternative skills to manage conflict, aggression (emotional regulation), or anger, which are the origins of many violent behaviors [45]. Applied in educational settings, these programs can help to decrease cybervictimization and cyberaggression, while promoting socioemotional development by stimulating social adjustment, self-esteem, prosociability, comprehension, and expression of emotions, empathy, agreeableness, and so on [24].…”

“…This study was part of a larger project in which the relationship between bullying or cyberbullying and the role of the different elements of emotional processing-perception, understanding, and/or regulation-as possible predictors of victimization in educational centers were being assessed [45].…”

“…Emotional education is important as it is a prevention mechanism against coexistence problems and cyberbullying problems [44]. It is necessary to create a positive climate in classrooms to stop interpersonal and relational conflicts, which in turn, will be conducive for emotional education in the classroom; students can thus learn to internalize the negative emotions they feel, analyze why they feel them, and learn alternative skills to violence [45]. Sometimes, due to little or no emotional reading of students and their behaviors by teachers, there is consolidation and permanence of these disruptive behaviors.…”