Emotional Intelligence and Adjustment to Community Living Among Consecrated Women Religious in Karen, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

The Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic life (CICLSAL) views the issue of Consecrated Women abandoning religious life after initial stages of formation as an emotional crisis from remote disappointments caused by an inauthentic religious community living. Failure to adjust is experienced to cause anxiety related feelings among other mental health related challenges. The study used sequential explanatory mixed research design. The study equally used census to collect data from all the 138 participants of various programs in AOSK-Chem Chemi ya Uzima Institute as per 2020 enrollment. The study was guided by cognitive behavior theory by Aaron Beck, (1960), complemented by Emotional Intelligence theory by Daniel Goleman, (1995). A Modified Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (MEIQ) based on Daniel Goleman's Emotional intelligence, as modified by Suzanne Farmer et al., (c.2013) was used to measure the level of Emotional Intelligence.Adjustment to community living was measured using modified sub-scales; Emotional Maturity, Satisfaction with life, and Self-Efficacy Scales. Data were analyzed using correlation and regression analysis in order to establish the extent to which each of the variables contributed to adjustment in community living. The findings reveal the overall Emotional Intelligence to have had a strong significant positive correlation with the overall adjustment to community living among Consecrated Women Religious. The finding implies that an increase in emotional intelligence would lead to a corresponding increase in adjustment to community living. Emotional Maturity was found to be a significant function of Self-awareness and selfmanagement while Life satisfaction was also found to have a significant relationship with social-awareness. Linear regression findings indicate significant weak positive relationship between adjustment to community living with social awareness. This reveals that Consecrated Women Religious need to improve their relational domain to enjoy smooth adjustment to community living.

Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Psychological Wellbeing among Women Religious in Nigeria

“…Similarly, Mutuku et al (2021) explored emotional intelligence and adjustment to communal life among consecrated female religious in Kenya and discovered that the adjustment to communal living is impacted by emotional intelligence. Thus, consecrated women ought to have self-awareness, selfregulation, social awareness, and relationship management skills to properly integrate into society.…”