Relationship between Altruism and Emotional Intelligence among Adolescent children of Working and non-working Mothers

Abstract

The purpose of our present study is to explore the relationship between Altruism and Emotional Intelligence among higher secondary students belonging to the children of working and non-working mothers and to examine the ability of emotional intelligence to predict altruism through this relationship. Descriptive method incorporated with survey technique follows to analyze the 300 sample of higher secondary students (age 17–18 years). Altruism Scale, adapted by the investigators and Bengali version (r=.79, p<.01) of the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) are used to assess the Altruism and Emotional Intelligence of the students respectively. The findings of this study indicate that the adolescent girl children of non-working mothers are more altruistic than the adolescent boy children of non-working mothers. But there exists no such significant difference between them in respect of emotional intelligence. In the case of children of working mothers similar gender difference appears for altruism and no difference appears for emotional intelligence. Adolescent girl children of working and non-working mothers together are more altruistic but not more emotionally intelligent in comparison to adolescent boy children. Again, working mothers’ adolescent girl children are less altruistic and possess less emotional intelligence in comparison of girl children of non-working mothers. One notable point is that adolescent children (boys and girls together) of working mothers are less altruistic as well as less emotionally intelligent than the adolescent children of non-working mothers. Further, the study divulges the fact that there exists a significant positive association between altruism and emotional intelligence of adolescent children. The group with low level of emotional intelligence shows lower altruism than the group with high level of emotional intelligence. The worked out regression equation reveals that Emotional Intelligence can function as the predictor of Altruism.