Assessing trait emotional intelligence and its relationship with stress and health behaviour in the education sector: An empirical study from Uttarakhand, India

Introduction

Right from the first introduction to alphabet, to the discussion on the origin of universe, teachers open the minds of the students and lead them on to a journey of unravelling the mysteries of not only the outer world, but their inner self. But how well do we actually know those who impact almost all aspects of our life? A lot of work has been done on the professionalism of teachers, how well are they trained, their educational qualifications, their skill for imparting theoretical and practical knowledge, etc. And all of it is absolutely necessary. But equally important, if not more, is a study into their personal well - being, their thoughts and emotions and feelings, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities, and their health. For, only a teacher who is happy and healthy can become a role model for their students. Assessment of emotional intelligence, stress and health behaviour of teachers and their inter-relationship forms the basis of this study.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is self-perception about one’s own emotions or the ability to understand and regulate one’s own and others’ emotions. Since the publication of the seminal works of Mayer and Salovey, and Reuven Bar-On, and publication of Daniel Goleman’s book on this topic in the 90s, the field has seen rapid development of the conceptual framework, theoretical models, and measuring tools. These three researchers have proposed the three main models and definitions of this construct and the measurement tools based on these models have been widely used by researchers across the world. While Mayer and Salovey define EI as an ability to perceive and regulate one’s own and others’ emotions,¹ Bar-On defines it as the composite of competencies and skills which help us in dealing with social and environmental pressures.² According to the Goleman model, EI is a competency to manage emotions for motivation which contributes to effective performance at work.³ Petrides and colleagues proposed a new ‘trait model’ which defines EI as self -perception of emotions and behaviour in emotional situations and suggested it as a part of personality.⁴ A large body of research focusing on its association and correlation with other behaviour aspects, personality traits, health indices and organizational skills⁵ has established its scientific credentials and generated interest from academics, practicing psychologists, media, corporate world and public at large. Dana Ackley, in a recent review has given a succinct and lucid introduction to the concept of emotional intelligence and its various theories, models and some practical applications.⁶ In simplest terms, ‘Emotional Intelligence’ is the intelligent use of emotions. O’Connor et al.,⁷ have summarized the various tests for measuring EI and their relative strengths and weaknesses, and their appropriate uses for both academic and professional purposes. The classification of the construct into ability, trait and mixed models is now standard and is based on the type of tool used for measurement. The trait EI model conceptualizes it as a personality trait which is distinct from cognitive intelligence and abilities.⁸ Petrides et al.⁵ found stronger association of trait EI and human behavioural patterns as compared to ability EI. Dolev and Lesham⁹ showed that training programmes are effective in improving EI which improves teachers’ performance, their sense of meaningfulness and their relations with students.

A lot of research has shown that women have better emotional intelligence than men, and age has a positive correlation with EI, but this is not universally proven and conflicting results regarding the role of gender and age leave this issue wide open for discussion.^10–14 Extremera, Fernández-Berrocal and Salovey reported higher ability EI in women than men. They noted that studies employing self-report measures either do not find this difference or even sometimes report men as having higher scores than women.¹⁵ There is inadequate explanation for some of the associations like general intelligence, professional qualifications, or level of teaching with EI. As there is poor correlation between cognitive intelligence and trait EI, it may be plausible that teachers at different levels of institutes, although differing in general intelligence, may have similar EI, but it needs empirical proof from larger studies.

It has been well established that individuals with high level of emotional intelligence experience less stress.^16,17 Several studies, both from India and abroad, done among teachers have shown a negative correlation between EI and stress.^18,19 Very few Indian studies, however, have taken participants from more than one type or level of educational institutes which makes it difficult to generalize their results.

Vickers et al., proposed a multidimensional model of health behaviour.²⁰ It comprised of preventive health behaviours including two specific dimensions of wellness maintenance behaviours and accident control behaviours and risk-taking behaviours with two specific dimensions of traffic-related risk taking and use of potentially harmful substances. Connor defined health behaviours as activities undertaken for the purpose of preventing or detecting disease or for improving health and wellbeing.²¹ Some of the examples include smoking, alcohol use, diet, physical activity, sexual behaviours, physician visits, medication adherence, screening and vaccination. Studies done on students have shown a positive linkage of EI, coping and health behaviours.²² Gilbert et al., in a study from France, compared teacher’s health/risk behaviours to those of non-teachers and found that teachers’ health behaviour was better than other professionals.²³ Espinosa & Kadić-Maglajlić, in a structural equation model, showed an inverse releationship between EI and unhealthy behaviours.²⁴ Gillan et al., showed that teachers with healthy food habits chose more task-oriented coping and regular physical activity was associated with less perceived stress and more effective coping.²⁵ Some studies in the developed countries have also utilized teachers as a vehicle to improve overall school health and designed national programs accordingly to target a broader audience of students.²⁶ Sorensen et al., demonstrated a positive effect of a school-based intervention designed to promote tobacco control among teachers in the Indian state of Bihar.²⁷ While previous research has shown a positive correlation of EI with positive health behaviour, and a negative correlation with negative health behaviours, no such study has been conducted among teachers in India.

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Previous research has shown that EI has a positive correlation with stress and a negative correlation with health behaviour. Indian studies on teachers have shown conflicting results regarding the effect of demographic parameters like age and gender on EI and have shown some relation of EI with either educational qualification or level and type of teachers. No Indian study has assessed the health behaviour of teachers so far.

The results of the present study show that teachers’ EI is not affected by age, gender, educational qualification, level of teaching or type of institute. In ability measures, women consistently perform better than men, but, in self-report measures which measure trait EI, this is usually not observed.¹⁵ In other words, women might be generally better in understanding and managing emotions, their own self-perception might not be very different from men. Our results are consistent with the studies showing similar trait EI levels among men and women teachers. The present study has adequate number of respondents from both genders making the results more reliable. While the ability model finds EI near to cognitive intelligence and thus increasing EI with age, experience, professional qualification seems justified, no such direct consequence can be drawn regarding trait EI. In fact, the notion that trait EI does not improve with age, experience, educational qualification, or career advancement is a valid reason for targeted intervention in improving EI and not presuming that it will get corrected over time. Whether it be the students or teachers, the focus on academic and professional qualification will improve their cognitive abilities and skills, but not their EI. This clearly is a vindication of the concept of trait EI, which presumes it to be a part of the personality and not related to cognitive abilities. Therefore, it follows that assessments and training of both cognitive and emotional aspects of individuals should be done in parallel, as focussing only on one aspect might not prepare one for the complexities and intricacies involved in the social and interpersonal relations.

The results also show that EI is not affected by educational qualification, level of teaching or type of institutes. Very few Indian studies have examined EI of teachers from different level of teaching or from different educational institutes and this precludes a generalization of their findings. A few studies have reported the association of EI with professional background or level of teaching but with limited sample size and without accounting for other confounding factors.¹³ The present study is much wider in scope with representation of teachers right from pre-primary level up to higher professional institutes and colleges from both government and private sector. None of these attributes were significantly related to EI and this again corroborates the concept of trait EI as being independent of cognitive intelligence and acquired knowledge.

In line with accepted wisdom, EI had a significant negative correlation with stress, and this emphasizes the fact that teachers with low EI need to be properly counselled to prevent and manage stress so that they can function appropriately in the school. There was a positive correlation between EI and health behaviour which is similar to previous studies. Although health behaviour is a less studied subject and no Indian study has previously assessed health behaviour of teachers, it is an important parameter which evaluates the attitude towards a healthy lifestyle. Previous research has shown that heath behaviour of teachers can impact not only their own wellbeing but also that of students and some countries have studied the role of national or local programs targeting teachers for some specific health intervention like smoking cessation. Health behaviour has been found to be an effective coping strategy which can help in reducing stress. Our study also found a negative correlation between health behaviour and stress.

There are a few limitations of the study. First, all self-report measures have a potential for misrepresentation by participants. But this fact applies more in assessment of these parameters of individual participants, and very less when making correlation analysis between two parameters. Second, the pre-defined target of 100 subjects in each category was not reached for educational qualification, but this was a parameter which was only revealed later. The initial screening and sampling targeted teachers based on their gender and level of teaching which satisfied the desired numbers. Third, analysis between different dimensions of EI and health behaviour was not carried out, as the objectives of the study was primarily to determine the interrelation between the three main parameters and composite scores are more meaningful in that respect for planning any interventions for training purposes.

Conclusion

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first Indian study which has evaluated emotional intelligence of teachers from different educational qualifications and teaching at different level and type of institutes using an internationally valid tool and assessing the impact of these factors on EI. This is also the first Indian study to examine health behavior of teachers. The study finds that trait emotional intelligence of teachers has a positive correlation with health behaviour and both trait EI and health behaviour independently affect stress. As the study involved teachers from different levels of teaching with different educational qualifications, the results are more generalized than previous research. The results of the study can influence certain practices at administrative level as well as clarifying certain debatable issues regarding the EI construct. Assessment of Emotional intelligence and health behaviour of teachers should be a part of their routine evaluation and training so that specific interventions to reduce stress and to improve their overall health and performance can be appropriately planned. This could be an important policy initiative for both public health and academics. Second, assigning teachers to administrative and other non-academic tasks can be helped by this data as selecting the best individual for a task needs an overall assessment of personality and not just academic credential or experience. Further, the results of the present study show that trait EI is an independent parameter which is not affected by age, gender, educational qualification and level or type of educational institute.