Emotional intelligence and subjective happiness in social work students

Abstract

In the discipline of Social Work, subjective happiness is regarded as a major indicator of quality of work life. Subjective happiness depends on the development of emotional intelligence. The objective of this study was to analyse the relationship between emotional intelligence (attention, clarity and emotional repair) and subjective happiness in a sample of 187 social work students from southern Spain (Average age = 20.38 years, 89.30% women), using questionnaires and a cross-sectional design. Higher levels of subjective happiness were positively and significantly associated with higher scores on clarity and emotional repair but were not associated with attention. Thus, Social Work training should give a greater weight to emotional intelligence. In this sense, developing emotional intelligence by implementing courses in faculties and social service centres would enable social work students and professionals to acquire more effective coping mechanisms and, therefore, increase their happiness and quality of life.