the relationship between emotional intelligence and perceived stress of Gonabad students during the covid 19 outbreak

Emotional intelligence is a set of non-cognitive skills affecting a person's ability to cope with environmental demands and pressures. It seems that students who have higher emotional intelligence can make better and more targeted decisions against various stresses. This research was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between emotional intelligence and the perceived stress of Gonabad students.

In this descriptive analytical study conducted in 2021, 364 students of Gonabad city were included by quota sampling method according to the number of students in each university. The research tools consisted of a demographic information questionnaire, Bradbury and Greaves’ emotional intelligence, and Cohen's perceived stress questionnaire, collected by the web-based method. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, Pearson, and Spearman correlation tests in SPSS version 26.

The mean score of emotional intelligence of students was 89/32 and the mean score of perceived stress of students was 30/62. Among the demographic data, there was only a significant and positive relationship between age and emotional intelligence (p=0/041). In other demographic information, no significant relationship was observed with emotional intelligence and perceived stress. The mean score of emotional intelligence components including self-awareness was 20/65, social awareness was 16/16, relationship management was 26/26, and self-management was 25/86. A significant and inverse relationship was observed with stress between all components of emotional intelligence, including self-consciousness (P<0/001), social consciousness (P<0/001), relationship managemen(P<0/001) and emotional intelligence score (P<0/001), except self-management (P<0/248).

According to the results, indicating a decrease in the level of perceived stress with an increase in the level of emotional intelligence in students, it is suggested that workshops related to increasing the level of emotional intelligence be considered for students at the university level, especially in times of widespread stress.