Emotional Intelligence And Adolescents’ Behaviour Problems
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Emotional Intelligence And Adolescents’ Behaviour Problems
ABSRTACT
The goal of this research is to look at Emotional Intelligence and Adolescent Behaviour Problems in Kosofe Local Government, Lagos State. The study included five Senior Secondary Schools in the Ojota/Ogudu Zone of Education District 2. A total of 150 kids were chosen for the study.
In addition, the researcher created a research questionnaire called the Emotional Intelligence and Adolescents’ Behaviour Problems Questionnaire (EIABPQ), which was used to collect data. The acquired data were analysed using tables and percentages.
The study’s findings demonstrated that self-awareness had no substantial influence on teenagers’ behavioural difficulties among secondary school pupils. Self-management has a substantial impact on adolescents’ behaviour difficulties, particularly among secondary pupils.
Social awareness has no substantial effect on adolescents’ behaviour problems among secondary school pupils. Finally, relationship management has no substantial influence on teenagers’ behavioural difficulties among secondary school students.
However, based on these findings, it was recommended that adolescents in secondary schools should be taught emotional intelligence skills and competencies that will help in reducing aggression, hostility, and personal distress, which will equip them in building healthy social relationships.
Additionally, adequate attention should be given to the social and emotional development of adolescents at home and at school so that they can properly nurture their emotional intelligence.
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
Background for the Study
In recent years, there has been a greater emphasis on children’s and young people’s attitudes and behaviours, which have a big impact on how successful they will be in dealing with life’s obstacles.
Unfortunately, the carers for these youngsters, who include parents, teachers, carers, and other significant individuals, are becoming overly preoccupied with other activities, leaving these young ones with little or no attention to the development and nurturing of their personalities and potentials.
Since appropriate and correct grooming might help kids become more successful and responsible individuals. It is worth emphasising that the ability to form and maintain interpersonal relationships during childhood and adolescence is a strong predictor of current and future adjustment (Nasir and Seena, 2011).
This capacity is referred regarded as emotional intelligence by psychologists, although others believe it is more significant than the intelligent quotient. It is one of the traits that might help a person be productive and successful in life.
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise one’s own emotions, understand what those emotions are saying, and recognise how those emotions affect those around him or her (Salovey and Mayer 1996). It also incorporates one’s view of others, because understanding how people feel allows one to better manage relationships.
The predominance of disruptive and maladaptive behaviours among young people has been related to their failure to understand their own emotions and those of others, resulting in these unpleasant behaviours.
It is critical to recognise that an individual’s behaviour is founded on the learning processes to which he or she is exposed, and it is anchored in and exhibited through emotions. The ability to express and control emotions is crucial, but so is the ability to recognise, interpret, and respond to other people’s emotions.
Emotion intelligence is a set of cognitive abilities and social skills that improve interpersonal behaviour. (Goleman, 1995). Intelligence can be broadly described as the ability to engage in goal-directed adaptive action. Emotional intelligence focusses on the aspects of intelligence that govern self-knowledge and social adaptability.
It is an individual’s ability to recognise their own emotions as well as those of others, to distinguish between different feelings and label them properly, and to utilise this emotional knowledge to influence their thoughts and behaviour. It also represents talents to combine intelligence, empathy, and emotions in order to enhance thought and comprehension of interpersonal dynamics (Mayer, 2008).
The formation and development of emotional intelligence in children and adolescents is an important component in building a qualitatively adapted personality in today’s living conditions. The ability to control one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others is critical to the reality of Emotional Intelligence in adolescence.
Because adolescence is characterised by a process of rapid psychological growth and personality formation, the accompanying emotional and behavioural instability may lead to the adoption of certain behavioural strategies for adulthood.
The value system created by adolescents based on their available experiences can also influence the intellectual, psychophysiological, and emotional components of their personality during life activities.
According to research, children’s capacity to recognise and express recognisable emotions are associated with significant differences in their social competence (Lemerise and Arsenio, 2000; Saarni, 1999).
However, Halberstadt, Denhoim, and Dunsmere (2001) recently stated that emotion experience, which includes “awareness and recognition of one’s own emotions,” may also play an important part in children’s interactions with peers in specific contexts.
Children’s awareness of emotional experiences stems from how they perceive and relate the effects of a scenario or occurrence to one another. For example, Harris (1985) emphasised that many of our behavioural decisions are impacted by “an expectation of how we will feel in some future situation.”
A child’s readiness to attend school, visit the dentist, make a new acquaintance, or flee from punishment is determined by an assessment of how he or she will feel in these situations.
This aims to demonstrate that humans frequently remember the emotional antecedents and outcomes of numerous events, and that these emotion expectancies are particularly valuable for anticipating expected responses to different situations and preparing potential behaviours.
However, emotional intelligence refers to the ability to reason about emotions and apply them to improve reasoning. More specifically, Emotional Intelligence is defined as the ability to recognise and appropriately express emotion, use emotion to assist thought, comprehend emotions, and manage emotions for emotional growth (Mayer and Salovey, 1997).
Some experts believe that emotional intelligence may be learnt and increased, but others believe it is an inborn trait. It is built on learning to recognise emotions, understand their meanings, and form relationships in order to figure out a solution to everyday situations.
It is apparent that emotions are the underlying cause of every behaviour or behaviour displayed in any given situation.
However, emotion appears to control our daily lives, with decisions made dependent on whether we are pleased, angry, sad, bored, or dissatisfied. Our emotions drive us to participate in various activities.
An emotion is a complex psychological state that consists of three unique components: a subjective experience, a psychological response, and a behavioural or expressive response. (Hockenbury & Hockenbury, 2007).
In addition to understanding emotions, academics attempted to identify and categorise the various types of emotions. Eckman (1972) proposed six primary emotions that are universal throughout human societies.
They include fear, disgust, wrath, suspense, joy, and melancholy. In 1999, he stated that the list also includes basic emotions such as embarrassment, enthusiasm, contempt, shame, pride, contentment, and humour.
Phutchuck’s “wheel of emotion” emotional classification system was introduced in 1980. This model highlighted how different emotions can be blended or mixed. He proposed eight (8) major emotional dimensions:
happiness vs sadness, anger versus fear, trust versus disgust, and surprise versus anticipation. The emotions can then be mixed in a variety of ways. For example, happiness and anticipation may be combined to generate excitement.
However, focussing on these three fundamental characteristics allows us to better understand emotions.
Researchers believed that emotions could be highly subjective. While certain emotions, such as “anger,” “sadness,” or “happiness,” may have broad categories, the individual experience of these emotions is likely to be far more multi-dimensional since people experience emotions in various ways.
People may not always experience “pure” forms of each emotion, although mixed emotions are typical in various life events and situations. For example, when starting a new job, you may feel both excited and frightened. These feelings may arise concurrently or sequentially.
Emotions also trigger stronger psychological reactions. The systematic nervous system, a branch of the autonomic nervous system, regulates many of the physical reactions that occur during an emotion, such as sweaty palms, racing heartbeat, and rapid breathing.
The autonomic nervous system regulates involuntary bodily responses including blood flow and digestion. When confronted with a threat, the sympathetic nervous system is in charge of managing the body’s fight or flight reactions, which immediately prepare the body to run or confront the threat.
Meanwhile, early studies of emotional psychology focused on autonomic responses, while more recent study has focused on the brain’s function in emotions.
The Brain Scan revealed that the Amygdala, a component of the limbic system, plays a vital role in emotion and fear in particular. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped region associated with motivational states such as hunger and thirst, as well as memory and emotions.
Researchers used brain imaging to demonstrate that when people are presented menacing images, the Amygdala is activated. It has been observed that injury to the Amygdala impairs the fear response.
This is the component that most people are familiar with because it represents the real expression of emotions. This is because we spend a lot of time understanding the emotions of those around us.
Our capacity to effectively interpret these expressions is linked to what psychologists call emotional intelligence, and they play a significant role in our overall body language.
Many expressions, such as a grin signifying happiness or pleasure and a frown indicating sadness or disapproval, were thought to be universal by the researchers. Cultural rules also influence how people express and perceive emotions. In Japan, for example, people try to hide their dread or disdain when confronted with an authoritative figure.
Furthermore, emotional intelligence is the combination between emotion and cognition that leads to adaptive behaviour (Salovey and Grenal, 2005). It promotes mental and psychological wellbeing while also determining mental and physical sickness.
Edward Thorndike (1930) defined “social intelligence” as the ability to get along with others, but Wechler proposed that effective components of intellect may be required for success in life.
Payne (1985) also coined the term “emotional intelligence” in his doctoral dissertation title: “A study of emotion; developing emotional intelligence; self-integration; relating to fear, pain, and desire (theory, structure or reality, problem-solving, contraction or expansion, turning in or coming or letting go).
Caruso indicated that “it is very important to understand that Emotional Intelligence is not the opposite of intelligence, that it is not the triumph of heart overhead, but it is the unique intersection of both” . While Mayer and Cobb defined it as the ability to handle emotional information, including the perception, integration, understanding, and management of emotions.
In conclusion, Freedman et al described Emotional Intelligence as a method of recognising, understanding, and deciding how we think, feel, and act; it influences our interactions with others as well as our understanding of ourselves. It defines how and what we learn, enables us to set priorities, and governs the majority of our daily activities.
Adolescence is characterised by intense turbulence in the emotional and behavioural domains. The World Health Organisation defines adolescence as the phase of life between the ages of 10 and 19 years. Adolescents strive to establish individuality while adhering to society norms.
Rapid urbanisation and modernisation have exposed them to social transformation. The resulting breakdown in family structure, combined with excessive or insufficient control, confuses the adolescent and leaves him or her particularly vulnerable to maladaptive patterns of thinking and behaviour. Healthy adulthood is dependent on the effective resolution of these emotional and behavioural difficulties, and most teenagers navigate their way through adulthood successfully.
However, not all adolescents may be lucky enough to receive the necessary societal assistance for a successful transition.
Some people acquire maladaptive patterns in their emotions and behaviours. This rage has a negative impact on the individual’s future, causing sadness, delinquency, and suicide ideation, among other issues.
Adolescent mental disorders and maladaptive behaviours have recently become more prevalent. According to WHO estimates, up to 20% of teenagers have one or more mental or behavioural issues. According to studies conducted in various parts of the world, the prevalence of behavioural and emotional issues in adolescents ranges between 16.5% and 40.8%.
More than half of school-aged adolescents participate in problem behaviours such as skipping class, drinking alcohol, fighting, shoplifting, and stealing. A modest but considerable number of adolescents were found to have engaged in dangerous sexual activities.
Adolescents are at significant risk of developing distressing and socially disruptive problem behaviours (Bartlelt, Holditch-Davis, and Belyea, 2005; Brooks, 1997). Some issue behaviours, such as having several sex partners, can cause problems for both the individual and others, including adolescents. Thus, these young people’s behavioural issues can have major ramifications for them, their families and friends, their schools, and society.
Adolescents who consume alcohol are more likely to experience scholastic issues, unsafe sexual activity such as neglecting to use condoms, victimisation, and criminal behaviour.
Alcohol consumption increases the likelihood of being involved in motor vehicle and other accidents, which were the leading cause of death among adolescents in 2001 (Aderson and Smith, 2003).
Depression during childhood and adolescence has been linked to an increased chance of having a variety of difficulties, including adult depressive disorder, suicidal conduct, functional decline, antisocial behaviour, and scholastic challenges.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), more than 1-6 million people worldwide die as a result of violent behaviour. In reality, aggressive behaviour is one of the leading causes of death among young people.
Human aggression is defined as any behaviour directed against another person with the immediate purpose to do harm. Furthermore, the offender must demonstrate that the activity will affect the target and that the target is motivated to avoid the behaviour (Anderson and Bushman, 2002).
Aggressive behaviour harms both the victims and the aggressors. More aggressive teenagers exhibit clear psychosocial maladjustment, poor academic performance, absence from school, involvement in delinquent behaviour, substance addiction, and a variety of mental health issues, including a high level of depression.
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common and recurring condition in children and adolescents, and it is associated with significant impairment, as evidenced by difficulties in school, interpersonal relationships, tobacco and substance use, suicide attempts, and a 30-fold increased risk of completing suicide (Lewinsohn, 1998).
There is significant evidence that MDD is linked to disturbed emotion regulation, which includes both voluntary and involuntary (automatic) cognitive processes (Mayberg, 2007).
Bullying is the most common kind of violence in schools, and the ramifications can persist into adulthood. There has been a rise in worry over school bullying in several parts of the world as a result of publicised suicides of children.
According to the National Centre for Education Statistics, around 40% of middle school students are directly involved in bullying at least once every week.
This act continued to pose a major threat to the physical and emotional wellbeing of children and teens. Violence and aggressiveness in schools is a widespread and growing topic that has piqued the interest of scientists, educators, and policymakers for over three decades in significant parts of Europe, North America, and Australia.
Bullying is defined as a negative physical, verbal, or interpersonal action with hostile purpose, causing distress to the victim, being repeated, and involving a power imbalance between the offenders and victims. It can also take many different forms, including physical confrontation, the spread of rumours, expulsion from peer groups, and social marginalisation of victims.
Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the concept that cognition and emotion are interconnected. This means that emotion has an impact on decision-making, relationship-building, and everyday behaviour.
In light of the relationship between emotional intelligence and variables related to social function, several authors have begun to investigate whether the inability to manage emotions is associated not only with relationship conflict but also with more serious behavioural problems such as aggressive behaviour (Loman, Stough, Hansen, & Downey, 2012).
Evidence in research supports Emotional Intelligence as a significant concept in the study of adolescent mental health, as it is thought to be a protective factor against bad moods and hence mental disease. (Mayer and Salovey, 1997).
Some researches show a significant link between bullying and emotional intelligence. Emotional Intelligence refers to the ability to understand, use, and manage emotion in relation to oneself and others. Mayer et al. (2008) define the overall dimension of Emotional Intelligence as “accurately perceiving emotions, using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotion, and managing emotion”. The notion brings together emotional and intellectual processes.
Lower emotional intelligence, on the other hand, tends to be associated with engagement in bullying, either as a bully or as a victim. Emotional intelligence education has the potential to significantly improve bullying prevention and intervention programs. This is because understanding and managing one’s own emotions may be helpful in avoiding children from engaging in bullying behaviours.
Theoretical and Conceptual Framework
In theory, emotional intelligence is defined as a combination of self-control, determination, self-motivation, and sensitivity to the feelings of others. Emotions are complex and dynamic, therefore it is not surprising that there are numerous models that attempt to unravel them.
The theory that underpins these theories are:
a) Conceptualising the Behaviour Problem
b) Emotional intelligence is defined.
c) Ability Model Theory of Emotional Intelligence.
d) Theory of Behaviour
a) Conceptualisation of Behavioural Problems
This is a socially defined issue behaviour that is viewed as a source of concern or as undesirable by traditional society’s social or legal standards and institutions of authority. It is a behaviour that typically evokes some type of social control response, whether little, such as a word of disapproval, or severe, such as imprisonment Jesser (1960).
It is the clinical expression of emotional or interpersonal maladjustment, particularly in children. For example, nail biting, enuresis, negativism, or open antagonism towards antisocial behaviour. This is when a person exhibits maladjustment by engaging in behavioural difficulties.
Emotional Intelligence Defined
Emotional intelligence is a set of cognitive abilities and social skills that improve interpersonal interaction (Goleman, 1995). Intelligence can be roughly defined as the ability to engage in goal-oriented adaptive behaviour, with emotional intelligence focussing on the aspects of intelligence that control self-awareness and social adaptability. Individuals’ ability to recognise their own emotions and those of others, to discern between different feelings, label them appropriately, and use
These emotional cues regulate thinking and conduct (Colman 2008). It also shows the ability to combine intelligence, empathy, and emotions in order to improve thinking and understanding of interpersonal interactions. (Mayer. 2008).
Emotional Intelligence creation and development in children and adolescents is a key component in building a qualitatively adapted personality in today’s living conditions. The ability to control one’s own emotions as well as the emotions of others is critical to the reality of Emotional Intelligence in adolescence.
Because adolescence is characterised by a process of rapid psychological growth and personality formation, the accompanying emotional and behavioural instability may lead to the adoption of certain behavioural strategies for adulthood.
The adolescent’s value system, which is created based on his available experiences, can also influence the intellectual, psychophysiological, and emotional components of his personality along the course of life.
Theories of emotional intelligence
Many scholars agreed that Emotional Intelligence theory will be as successful as its methods of measurement. They defined and explained emotional intelligence using models that included a variety of emotional talents. However, these models have common core assumptions (Goleman, 2000a); Caruso, Mayer, and Salovey (2002).
b) Ability Model Theory of Emotional Intelligence.
Ability model (Mayer and Salovey’s model).
Ability Models view Emotional Intelligence as a standard intelligence that employs a specific set of mental abilities, which are:
1. Inter-correlated. 2. Relate to other aspects of intellect, including 3. Develop with age and experience (Mayer, Caruso, and Salovey, 1999; Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, and Sitarenios, 2003).
Mayer and Salovey’s Four Branch Model of Emotional Intelligence (1997).
According to this paradigm, Emotional Intelligence consists of four essential emotion-related talents. They include:
1) Perception of Emotion: This relates to people’s ability to recognise emotions in themselves and others by facial expression, tone of voice, and body language (Braket et al, 2013). Those who are adept at perceiving emotion may also express it and communicate their emotional demands.
2) Use of Emotion to Facilitate Thinking: Emotional Intelligence includes the ability to use emotions to improve cognitive tasks and adapt to different contexts. People who are skilled in this field recognise that certain emotional states are more conducive to desired goals than others.
Individuals who have acquired and practiced this aspect of Emotional Intelligence actively generate emotions to support certain tasks or aims. For example, a professional teacher in this area may decide to reschedule a lesson after playtime in order to get the children joyful and happy after playing, because he wants them to feel positive emotions in order to succeed in a creative class such as brainstorming or art project.
Making judgements based on the influence of emotional experiences on actions and behaviours is an important component of emotional intelligence.
3) Some scholars believe that emotional intelligence, or emotional quotient, is as vital, if not more important, than intellectual intelligence or intelligent quotient in supporting interpersonal functioning in relationships.
Emotional Intelligence also includes the ability to distinguish between emotional states and their underlying causes and trajectories.
People proficient in this field are aware of this emotional trajectory and have a deep understanding of how various emotions might interact to produce another.
Successfully distinguishing between unpleasant emotions is a necessary ability for understanding emotion and may lead to more successful emotion regulation. (Barret, Gress, Christensen, and Benvenuto, 2001).
Emotion management is being open to a wide range of emotions, understanding the importance of feeling various emotions in specific contexts, and determining which short and long-term tactics are most effective for emotion regulation (Gross, 1998).
Behavioural theory is a field of psychology that focusses on observable behaviour rather than interior events such as thought and emotion. It is the study of stimulus-response patterns. Behaviour is a response to a stimulus. John Watson pioneered the American School of Behaviourism.
Watson argued that thinking and intentions were internal processes that could not be witnessed and hence should not be examined. Scientists are only interested in observable behaviours.
Through animal experiments, B.F. Skinner developed the theory of operant conditioning, which is a learning in which voluntary behaviour is strengthened or weakened by consequences or antecedents (Walford, p. 205). This research demonstrated that behaviour could be changed by events occurring before (antecedent) or after (consequences) the behaviour.
Theory of Behaviour
c) Psycho-analytic Theory of Behaviour.
Psycho-analytic theory is the theory of personality organisation and the dynamics of personality development that underpins psychoanalysis, a clinical technique for treating psychopathology. This hypothesis was first developed by Sigmund Freud in the late nineteenth century, and it has undergone numerous revisions since then.
Psychoanalytic theory rose to prominence in the last third of the twentieth century as part of the critical discourse surrounding psychological treatment after the 1960s, long after Freud’s death in 1939 (Basingstoke 2008), and its validity is now widely disputed and rejected (Straus Giroux,1984).
Freud has abandoned his analysis of the brain and psychological research in favour of the study of the mind and the linked psychological traits that comprise the mind, as well as the treatment of free association and the transference phenomenon.
His research emphasised the need of identifying early events that may have an impact on adult mental functioning. His investigation of the genetic and later the developmental aspects gave psychoanalytic thought its distinctive features.
With the publication of Dream Interpretation in 1899, his hypothesis gains traction. Psychoanalytic simply refers to the analysis of the human psyche, whereas psychoanalysis is a therapeutic method developed by Sigmund Freud for treating mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the patient’s mind and bringing repressed fear and conflicts into the conscious mind through techniques such as dream interpretation and free association. This technique is also related with a set of psychological theories (O.ED Online, 2015).
According to the psychoanalytic viewpoint, humans have sexual and violent urges. Psychoanalytic theorists hold that human behaviour is deterministic. It is governed by illogical forces, the unconscious, innate and biological desires. Because of this deterministic aspect, psychoanalytic theorists do not believe in free will.
(Friedman and Schustack, 2011).
Freud hypothesised that the issues experienced by hysterical patients could be linked back to terrible childhood experiences that could not be recalled. The influence of last memories shaped the patient’s feelings, thoughts, and behaviour. These investigations helped to shape the psycho-analytic theory. (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner 2009/2011).
Statement of the Problem
Adolescents experience intense emotional and behavioural instability. They engage in maladaptive and socially disruptive actions that are common in today’s society and contradict its norms and values.
This has resulted in a wide range of bizarre behaviours, including terrorism, school violence, cultism, rape, prostitution, homosexualism, transgenderism, and so on. It has also resulted in a high rate of dropouts among secondary school students, lowering this young generation’s educational capacity.
However, stakeholders in secondary school education had tried a variety of initiatives, including workshops and seminars, group counselling, and the establishment of mentor-mentee relationships, to little avail. This has caused anxiety among parents, school officials, the government, the Ministry of Education, students, and society as a whole.
With the prevalence of disruptive and maladaptive behaviour among young people, which has been related to their failure to understand their own emotions and those of others, resulting in these troubling behaviours.
The purpose of this study is to look into the relationship between emotional intelligence and teenage behaviour problems.
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