The Relationship Between Emotional Intelligence Level and Coping Strategies With Academic Environmental Pressure: A field Study on a Sample of Public Relations Students

Abstract

The researcher’s goal in conducting this descriptive survey study was to ascertain the emotional intelligence of Saudi Arabian university undergraduate public relations students. There were 166 male and female volunteers in the study’s sample. The results showed that there was a high degree of agreement between participants’ replies on the emotional intelligence scale. The scale total average was (3.77 out of 5). First on the list was the dimension of “empathy,” followed by “social communication,” “regulating emotions,” “management of emotions,” and lastly, “emotional knowledge.” Although the overall average of the scale was 3.49 out of 5, the results showed that participants’ responses on the academic environment stress management scale, came with a high degree of agreement for all the methods; however, their responses on the aggressive method scale outweighed their responses on the reluctance method scale. First, it reached (4.05), and second, it reached (2.94).  The study found that there is a statistically significant, direct, positive association between the overall level of emotional intelligence and the aggressive coping mechanisms used to deal with the pressures of academic setting, with a correlation coefficient of (0.638). The overall level of emotional intelligence and the regressive techniques for handling the pressures of the academic setting have a statistically significant inverse link, according to the results, with a correlation coefficient of (-0.247). Lastly, the study’s findings showed that the variables of gender, academic year, and academic grade average had no statistically significant effects on the emotional level, or the strategies used by male and female public relations students to cope with the pressures of the classroom