Abstract
The objective of present study was to explore the role of emotional intelligence in self-concept in interpersonal relationships (i.e., family, same sex and opposite sex) in adolescents. After detailed literature review the following hypotheses were formulated; 1) Trait emotional intelligence would be a predictor of self-concept interpersonal relationship with family. 2) Trait emotional intelligence would be a predictor of self-concept interpersonal relationship with same sex. 3) Trait emotional intelligence would be a predictor of self-concept interpersonal relationship with opposite sex. Sample of present study comprised of 143 secondary school students recruited from private sector secondary schools situated in different areas of Karachi. The age range of entire sample was from 12 to 16 years (Mean age = 14.41, years, SD = 1.36). Among them were 74 (51.7%) males and 69 (48.3%) were females. Out of total sample 104 (72.7%) belonged to nuclear family setup and 39 (27.3%) belonged to joint family setup. Personal Information Form was used to take personal information (age, education, family system, etc.) of the participants. Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Adolescent Short Form (TEIQue-ASF, Petrides, Sangareau, Furnham, & Frederickson, 2006) and Self-Description Questionnaire-II (SDQ-II, Marsh, Ellis, Parada, Richards, & Heubeck, 2005) were administered to measure the emotional intelligence and self-concept in interpersonal relationships of adolescents respectively. In order to interpret the data in statistical terminology descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviations, percentages) was used for getting a better statistical view of characteristics of sample of the data in a summarized way. Simple regression analysis was used to determine the predictive relationship of TEIQue-ASF with SDQ-II in adolescents. The statistical computation was done through Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 20.0). Results showed that Trait EI is a significant predictor of self-concept in interpersonal relationship i.e., family (R2 = 0.062, F (142) = 9.44, p<.003) same sex (R2 = 0.10, F (142) = 16.60, p<.000) and opposite sex (R2 = 0.028, F (142) = 4.19, p<.042) in adolescents. Overall results indicate that trait emotional intelligence is an important factor for developing self-concept in establishing interpersonal relationship in adolescents. Implications of these results the avenues for future research have also been suggested.