Assessing Trait Emotional Intelligence and its Relation with Stress and Health Behavior in Education Sector

Abstract

Emotional intelligence of teachers can affect their mental and physical health as well their performance in school. Both emotional intelligence and health behavior can have an impact on stress. Majority of Indian studies have taken only one type of teachers, have used indigenous scales which are not internationally valid, and have not studied health behaviour. The role of age and gender on emotional intelligence is also a debatable subject which requires larger studies. newlineThe present study was undertaken to evaluate the trait emotional intelligence, stress, health behaviour of teachers and to determine their inter-relationship on emotional intelligence. newlineTeachers from different schools, colleges and professional institutes situated in Dehradun and nearby towns of Uttarakhand, India were evaluated by internationally valid tools for the three parameters. Both online and offline routes were used for data collection from 48 different educational institutes by physical interview. Cronbach s alpha was calculated for reliability of scales, Pearson coefficient was calculated for correlation between emotional intelligence, stress and health behaviour, and t test and ANOVA were used to evaluate any difference in emotional intelligence based on gender, type of institute, educational qualification and level of teaching. newline646 teachers took part in the study. The results revealed that emotional intelligence of teachers has no relation with age, gender, and educational qualification, level of teaching or type of institute. It was found to have a negative correlation with stress and a positive correlation with health behaviour. Further, health behaviour is inversely related to stress. newlineConclusion: Assessment of Emotional intelligence and health behavior of teachers should be a part of their routine evaluation and training so that specific interventions to reduce stress and to improve their health and performance. Trait emotional intelligence is distinct from cognitive intelligence and is not affected by age, gender and qualification