Influence of Emotional Intelligence and Optimism on Academic Adjustment, Resilience, and Happiness among College Students: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

Background: When it comes to a higher education system, college students are faced with a variety of challenges, including academic, emotional, and social. The ability to understand, manage emotions, and an optimistic personality are considered the most important to bring academic adjustment. Still, little is known about the joint impact of these psychological factors on multiple students’ outcomes in a single study.

Objective: The study aimed to examine the influence of emotional intelligence and optimism on academic adjustment, resilience, and happiness among college students.

Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional correlational research design was used. Out of 365 screened students, 340 undergraduate students took part in the study, with 25 being excluded for personal reasons. The researchers employed a Sociodemographic Information Sheet, the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), the Academic Adjustment Scale, the Brief Resilience Scale (BRS), and the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS) to collect data. The data were analyzed using the descriptive statistics, Cronbach alpha, normality test, Pearson correlation, independent-samples t-test, and multiple linear regression using IBM SPSS Statistics version 27.0.

Results: The study revealed that emotional intelligence, optimism, academic adjustment, resilience, and happiness significantly correlated positively with each other (p < .001). The results of multiple regression analyses indicated that emotional intelligence and optimism were significant predictors of academic adjustment (R² = .551), resilience (R² = .492), and happiness (R² = .590). All three hypotheses of the study were confirmed. The emotional intelligence showed up as the better predictor of all the outcome variables.

Conclusion: Based on the findings, emotional intelligence and optimism are psychological resources that can help students adjust, bounce back, or be happy. Making these educational and counseling interventions may help college students succeed academically and psychologically.