Relationship between emotional intelligence, coping with stress, self-esteem and risky behaviour among high school students

Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati odnos emocionalne inteligencije, suočavanja sa stresom, samopoštovanja i rizičnih ponašanja srednjoškolaca. U istraživanju je sudjelovalo 537 učenika i učenica srednjih škola u dobi od 14 do 19 godina. Istraživanje je provedeno u online obliku te su korišteni: Upitnik emocionalne kompetentnosti, Upitnik stilova suočavanja sa stresom za adolescente, Revidiranu skalu samoprihvaćanja i samokompetentnosti i Upitnik samoiskaza rizičnog i delinkventnog ponašanja mladih. Rezultati ukazuju na spolne razlike za sve tri sposobnosti emocionalne inteligencije, djevojke su iskazale veću sposobnost uočavanja i razumijevanja emocija, a mladići sposobnosti izražavanja i imenovanja emocija te upravljanja emocijama. Pokazalo se da djevojke češće koriste suočavanje usmjereno na emocije i suočavanje izbjegavanjem naspram mladića. Mladići su iskazali veće razine samopoštovanja naspram djevojaka. Također je dobiveno da stariji učenici iskazuju više samoprihvaćanje te više nepoželjnih normativnih ponašanja i rizičnih spolnih ponašanja. Emocionalna intelignecija pozitivno je povezana sa suočavanjem usmjerenim na problem i emocije te samopoštovanjem. Samopoštovanje je pozitivno povezano sa suočavanjem usmjerenim na problem i emocije, a negativno sa suočavanjem izbjegavanjem. Rezultati hijerarhijskih regresijskih analiza pokazali su da su sposobnosti emocionalne inteligencije, s naglaskom na sposobnost upravljanja emocijama, značajan prediktor kod četiri od pet ispitanih tipova rizičnih ponašanja. Najviši postotak varijance objašnjen je kod suicidalnih i autoagresivnih ponašanja, gdje su se sve tri prediktorske varijable pokazale značajnima.The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence, coping with stress, self-esteem and risky behaviors among high school students. The research involved 537 high school students aged 14 to 19. The study was conducted online and the following were used: Emotional Competence Questionnaire, The Questionnaire for Measuring Adolescents' Coping Styles, Self-liking/ self-competence Scale - Revised Version, Youth Selfreported Delinquency and Risk Behaviors Questionnaire. The results indicate sex differences for all three abilities of emotional intelligence, girls showed a greater ability to perceive and understand emotions, and boys showed a greater ability to express and name emotions and manage emotions. It has been shown that girls are more likely to use emotion-oriented coping and avoidance coping versus boys. Boys showed higher levels of self-esteem against girls. It was also obtained that older students exhibit more self-liking and more undesirable normative behaviors and risky sexual behaviors. Emotional intelligence is positively correlated with problem- and emotion-oriented coping and self-esteem. Self-esteem is positively correlated with problem-oriented coping and emotion-oriented coping, and negatively with avoidance coping. The results of hierarchical regression analyses showed that emotional intelligence abilities, with an emphasis on the ability to manage emotions, were a significant predictor in four out of five types of risky behaviors examined. The highest percentage of variance was explained in suicidal and autoaggressive behaviors, where all three predictor variables were significant