EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND SUBJECTIVE WELL BEING: EXPLORATION OF TEACHERS’ BURNING DILEMMA

Abstract

Emotional intelligence and subjective well-being have stirred considerable attention in academic and professional discipline of psychology. Research yielded emotional intelligence as potential variable to explain emotional upheavals in working domains; subjective well-being. Connection between emotional intelligence and contemporary domain of positive psychology, especially in the spectrum of subjective well-being are debateable for researchers. Present research conducted to explore association between subjective well-being and emotional intelligence among the teachers of public colleges of Lahore. Sample of the research consisted of 716 teachers; 324 male and 392 females conveniently selected from 20 colleges; 10 male and 10 female colleges of District Lahore. Data were collected through administering Emotional Quotient Inventory: Adult Version (Bar-On, 1997) consisted of 117 items divided into five components. Measure of Happiness Questionnaire was adopted to gauge the subjective well-being of teachers. Reliability of the instruments was confirmed in SPSS by calculating Cronbach’s Alpha scores; .955 and .795 respectively. Data was collected from the respondents after getting permission from heads of the institutions. Normality of the data were calculated in SPSS by using Shapiro-Wilk’s test, p>.05, n<2000. Findings report a large positive correlation between teachers’ emotional intelligence and their subjective well-beings, and there exists a significant small correlation between emotional intelligence and gender. Research recommends that heads of the institutions need to arrange trainings, conduct seminars and ensure presence of motivational speakers to enhance male and female college teachers’ well- being focusing their emotions towards constructive tasks. Keywords: burning dilemma, college teachers, emotional intelligence, subjective well beings.