Investigating the Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence and Social Anxiety Levels of University Students

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between emotional intelligence and social anxiety levels of university students. The study data consisted of a total of 212 university students, 64% female (N=136) and 36% (N=76) male and data were collected from a state university in the west of Turkey. The relational model, one of the general models, was used in the research. The "Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale" was used to determine the emotional intelligence levels of the students, and the "Social Anxiety Scale" was used to determine the social anxiety problems experienced by university students. SPSS 23.0 package program was used for the analyzes. Research findings revealed the positive effects of emotional intelligence in reducing the social anxiety levels of university students. In addition, it was concluded that emotional intelligence predicts social anxiety in university students in a statistically significant way. It was observed that the subscales of optimism, use of emotions and evaluation of emotions which constitute emotional intelligence in university students significantly predicted social anxiety together.

Social Anxiety in Students with Specific Learning Disorders Based on Emotion Regulation and Emotional Intelligence: The Mediating Role of Perceived Self-Efficacy

“…The obtained results align with the research findings of (11,13). The results of Kahraman's research (21) outlined that emotional intelligence has a positive effect on reducing students' social anxiety levels. To analyze the gained result, it can be said that emotional intelligence helps recognize the desired emotional responses and create a positive attitude toward events and emotions.…”

The role of personality traits in mediating the relation between fear of negative evaluation and social interaction anxiety

“…In terms of extraversion, interventions can focus on the development of skills that belong to its facets: social self-esteem, social boldness, and sociability. Young people can learn to improve their selfesteem (Liu X. et al, 2022), to cultivate positive self-regard and selfbeliefs (Hulme et al, 2012;Golde et al, 2023), self-compassion (Werner et al, 2012;Liu et al, 2020;Holas et al, 2023), self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience (Fatima et al, 2017;Serrano et al, 2021;Hui et al, 2022), emotional intelligence (Kahraman, 2022) and coping strategies (Takács et al, 2021). Liu et al (2023b) show that, beyond traditional approaches in the treatment of anxiety disorders, digital mental health interventions prove to be very effective due to low costs, rapid diagnosis, effective treatment and positive effects.…”