INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND
ASSERTIVENESS AMONG ADOLESCENTS
A. FARZIYA SULTHANA* AND ZAHIDA JABEEN**
ABSTRACT
The present investigation attempts to find out the inter-relationship between emotional
intelligence and assertiveness among adolescents. The present study was conducted on 120
adolescents from different colleges of Chennai city of age group ranging between 16 – 18 years.
Of which 60 were boys and 60 were girls. Equal number of 30 boys and girls were first born and
last born in their families. The tools used for the investigation were Emotional Intelligence Scale
to evaluate Habitual Behaviour Styles (2003) developed by Sushama and Thomas. To assess
assertiveness, a Rathus Assertiveness Inventory (1967) modified by Thasneem Naqvi was
utilized. The data obtained was subjected to statistical analysis using mean, standard deviation,
‘t’ test and Karl Pearson Co-efficient of Correlation. The results of the present study revealed
that both boys and girls who are first born showed same measure of emotional intelligence.
Whereas, in the case of last born adolescents, girls showed higher measure of emotional
intelligence than boys. Boys and girls who are first born and last born in the family did not show
any difference in their assertiveness. Ordinal position had no influence on assertiveness of boys
and girls. Lastly it is observed that there existed no relationship between emotional intelligence
and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls who are first born and last born in the family.
INTRODUCTION
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally
occurring between puberty and adulthood, but largely characterized as beginning and ending
with the teenage stage. Researcher described this period as a period of “storm and stress” a time
when the individual is erratic, emotional, unstable and unpredictable.
*A. Farziya Sulthana, M.Phil., Student, Department of PG Studies and Research in Home
Science.
**Zahida Jabeen, Assistant Professor, Department of PG Studies and Research in Home Science.
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Emotional intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge from one’s emotions
and the emotion of others in order to be more successful and lead a more fulfilling life. But
assertiveness is the ability to express one’s rights without violating the rights of others. During
adolescence peers become a major focus for social and emotional involvement. Emotions as
organized responses, crossing the boundaries of many psychological subsystems, including the
physiological, cognitive, motivational and experiential systems. The emotionally intelligent
person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand.
Emotional intelligence (EI) refers to the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions.
Salovey and Mayer (1990) defined emotional intelligence as the subset of social
intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one's own and others' feelings and emotions, to
discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one's thinking and actions.
According to Mayer and Cobb (2000) emotional intelligence is the ability to process emotional
information, particularly as it involves the perception, assimilation, understanding, and
management of emotion.
It consists of these four branches of mental ability they are emotional identification,
perception and expression, emotional facilitation of thought, emotional understanding, emotional
management. Emotional intelligence affects ones performance at work. Emotional intelligence
can help one to navigate the social complexities of the workplace, lead and motivate others, and
excel in ones career. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is built by reducing stress, remaining focused,
and staying connected to oneself and others. An emotionally intelligent person is capable of
mastering an extensive vocabulary such as feeling words. By mastering means having the ability
not only to perceive an extensive range of feelings in oneself and others, but also to quickly
assign the most specific label to the feeling, for example in conversation with others or in self-
reflection.
Assertiveness is a particular mode of communication. It is a form of behavior
characterized by a confident declaration or affirms the person’s rights or point of view either
aggressively threatening the rights of another or submissively permitting another to ignore or
deny one’s rights or point of view. Non-assertiveness may be seen as the use of inefficient
communication skills, whereas assertiveness is considered a balanced response, being neither
passive nor aggressive. According to Bower and Bower (1991)7 assertiveness is the ability to
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express ones rights without violating the rights of others. It is an appropriately direct, open and
honest communication which is self-confident, gain the respect of peers and friends, increase
once chances for honest relationships, and feel better about one’s own self and self-control in
everyday situations. Being assertive is to one’s benefit most of the time but it does not mean that
one always gets what he or she wants. The result of being assertive is that one feels good about
oneself, other people know how to deal with him and there is nothing vague about dealing with
him. Assertive thinking focuses too much on pleasing oneself at the expense of others.
Barnette (2000)4 indicated that however asserting oneself will not necessarily guarantee
happiness or fair treatment by other. Just because a person assert himself does not mean he will
always get what he want nonetheless, by developing an ability to express himself, he may be able
to reduce his stress, increase his feeling of self-worth, improve his decision-making abilities and
feel more self-confident in relationships.
Objectives of the study
The objectives of the present study are as follows
i. To determine the effect of gender on the emotional intelligence and assertiveness of
adolescents.
ii. To find out whether ordinal position of an adolescent in the family has any effect on
emotional intelligence and assertiveness of adolescents.
iii. To assess the relationship between emotional intelligence and assertiveness of
adolescents.
Methodology
Sample
The sample for the present study was obtained from different colleges from Chennai city. A
sample of 120 adolescent boys and girls of age group 16-18 years who are first born and last
born in the family were selected for the study.
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Tool
The investigator selected the following tools for the present study. Emotional Intelligence Scale
developed by Sushama and Immanuel Thomas in the year 2003 to evaluate the habitual
behavioral styles. The tool consisted of 62 questions which represented different aspects of
emotional intelligence. Each response has five responsive categories viz; strongly agree, agree,
undecided, disagree and strongly disagree. Of all the 62 questions 32 were positive and 30 were
negative questions. Rathus Assertiveness Inventory modified by Thasneem Naqvi in the year
2007 consists of 32 questions with options given on a 4 point rating scale i.e. not at all,
sometimes, often and always.
Results and discussion
The results are discussed with respect to their mean scores, standard deviation, karl pearson
coefficient of correlation and ‘t’ test.
Emotional intelligence Vs Gender
An observation of table 1 indicates that no significant difference exists in the emotional
intelligence of boys and girls who are first born in the family and there exist a significant
difference between boys and girls who are last born in the family. The mean values of boys and
girls who are first born in the family are 201.27 and 203.13. The calculated ‘t’ value 0.53 is less
than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, hence it is not significant. The mean value
of boys and girls who are last born in the family are 200.13 and 207.03. The calculated ‘t’ value
2.26 is greater than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, hence it is significant. Hence
it is seen that the girls who are last born in the family have high emotional intelligence compared
to boys. This finding is corroborated by a study in which Schutte and Malouff (1998) found that
girls were significantly higher in the measure of emotional intelligence than boys.
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Table 1
Comparison of emotional intelligence between boys and girls who are first born and last
born in the family
Variable Ordinal Gender N Mean Standard ‘t’ value Level of
position Deviation significance
Boys 30 201.27 12.68
First born
0.53 NS
Girls 30 203.13 14.24
Emotional
intelligence
Boys 30 200.13 10.05
Last born
2.26 0.05
Girls 30 207.03 13.33
Note:- NS – Not significant
Emotional intelligence Vs Ordinal position
A perusal of table 2 indicates that no significant difference exits in the emotional
intelligence of adolescents who are first born and last born in the family. The mean values for
boys who are first born and last born in the family are 201.27 and 200.13 respectively. The
calculated ‘t’ value 0.38 is less than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, hence it is
not significant. For the girls who are first born and last born in the family the mean values are
203.13 and 207.03 respectively. The calculated ‘t’ value 1.09 is less than the table value 1.96 at
5% level of significance, hence it is not significant. The reason could be that during adolescent
years, both boys and girls irrespective of their ordinal position in the family should have
emotional awareness, ability to harness emotions and regulate their emotions.
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Table 2
Comparison of emotional intelligence of adolescents who are first born and last born in the
family
Variable Gender Ordinal N Mean Standard ‘t’ Level of
position Deviation value significance
First born 30 201.27 12.68
0.38 NS
Boys
Last born 30 200.13 10.05
Emotional
intelligence
First born 30 203.13 14.24
1.09 NS
Girls
Last born 30 207.03 13.33
Note:- NS – Not significant
Assertiveness Vs Gender
An observation of table 3 indicates that no significant difference exists in the
assertiveness of boys and girls who are first born and last born in the family. The mean values
are 70.77 and 67.73 for assertiveness of boys who are first born and last born in the family
respectively. The calculated ‘t’ value is 1.32 which is less than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of
significance, hence it is not significant. The mean values for girls who are first born and last born
in the family are 67.33 and 71.17 respectively. The calculated value ‘t’ value is 1.81 which is
less than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, it is not significant.
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It is a fact that every adolescent boy or girl should possess assertiveness as a skill of
one’s ability to freely express and defend views about a subject, needs and demands without
invading the boundaries of others.
Table 3
Comparison of assertiveness between boys and girls who are first born and last born in the
family
Variable Ordinal Gender N Mean Standard ‘t’ Level of
position Deviation value significance
Boys 30 70.77 9.04
First born
1.32 NS
Girls 30 67.73 8.65
Assertiveness
Boys 30 67.33 9.37
Last born
1.81 NS
Girls 30 71.17 6.82
Note:- NS – Not significant
Assertiveness Vs Ordinal position
From table 4 it is viewed that no significant difference exists in the assertiveness of first
born and last born boys as well as girls in the family. The mean values for boys who are first
born and last born in the family are 70.77 and 67.33 respectively. The calculated ‘t’ value 1.44 is
less than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, hence it is not significant. The mean
values for girls who are first born and last born in the family are 67.33 and 71.77 respectively.
The calculated ‘t’ value 1.70 is less than the table value 1.96 at 5% level of significance, hence it
is not significant.
Ordinal position does not influence assertiveness during adolescent years. It is because
adolescent should develop greater assertiveness which is the key for enhancing their work and
career as well their personal life.
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Table 4
Comparison of assertiveness between first born and last born boys and girls in the family
Variable Gender Ordinal N Mean Standard ‘t’ Level of
position Deviation value significance
First born 30 70.77 9.04
Boys
1.44 NS
Assertiveness
Last born 30 67.33 9.37
First born 30 67.33 8.65
Girls
1.70 NS
Last born 30 71.17 6.82
Note: - NS – Not significant
Relationship between emotional intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls
An observation of table 5 shows that no relationship existed between emotional
intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls. The correlated ‘r’ value for boys is
0.128 and girls is 0.117, which were proved to be not significant.
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Table 5
Relationship between emotional intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls
Gender Variable Emotional intelligence Assertiveness
Emotional 1 0.128 NS
intelligence
Boys
Assertiveness 0.128 NS 1
Emotional 1 0.117 NS
intelligence
Girls
Assertiveness 0.117 NS 1
Note: - NS – Correlation is not significant
An observation of table 6 shows that no relationship existed between emotional
intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls who are first born in the family. The
correlated value for boys is 0.039 and for girls is 0.202 which were proved to be not significant.
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Table 6
Relationship between emotional intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls
who are first born in the family
Gender Variable Emotional intelligence Assertiveness
Emotional 1 0.039 NS
intelligence
Boys
Assertiveness 0.039 NS 1
Emotional 1 0.202 NS
intelligence
Girls
Assertiveness 0.202 NS 1
Note: - NS – Correlation is not significant
An observation of table 7 shows that no relationship existed between emotional
intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls who are last born in the family. The
correlated value for boys is 0.222 and for girls is 0.088 which were proved to be not significant.
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Table 7
Relationship between emotional intelligence and assertiveness of adolescent boys and girls
who are last born in the family
Gender Variable Emotional intelligence Assertiveness
Emotional 1 0.222 NS
intelligence
Boys
Assertiveness 0.222 NS 1
Emotional 1 0.088 NS
Girls intelligence
Assertiveness 0.088 NS 1
Note: - NS – Correlation is not significant
From the overall results of tables on correlation between emotional intelligence and
assertiveness, it is seen that no relationship exist between adolescent who are first born and last
born in the family. The reason could be that emotions help us think and act in healthy ways.
Emotional intelligence means intelligent about emotions. It is the ability to acquire and apply
knowledge from one’s emotions and the emotions of others in order to be more successful and
lead a more fulfilling life. But assertiveness is the ability to express ones rights without violating
the rights of others.
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Conclusion
The conclusion drawn from the present study revealed that both boys and girls who are
first born showed same measure of emotional intelligence. Adolescence is a crucial period during
which an adolescent have to be smart in different ways and have to make good decisions in life
by using their feelings. Whereas, in the case of last born adolescents, girls showed higher
measure of emotional intelligence than boys. Ordinal position of the adolescent in the family had
no influence on the emotional intelligence of boys and girls. All adolescents should have
emotional awareness, ability to harness emotions and regulate their emotions.
Boys and girls who are first born and last born in the family did not show any difference
in their assertive behaviour. Hence, every adolescent should possess assertiveness as a skill of
one’s ability to freely express and defend views about a subject, needs and demands without
invading the boundaries of others. Ordinal position had no influence on the assertiveness of
adolescent boys and girls. It is because all adolescents should be assertive which is an important
aspect of communication with others. And it is a key for enhancing their work and career as well
their personal life.
Further, it is clear from the findings that there was no relationship between emotional
intelligence and assertiveness of boys and girls who are first born and last born in the family.
Emotional intelligence means intelligent about emotions. But assertive behaviour is the ability to
say no, the ability to ask favours and the ability to initiate, continue and finish a general
conversation.
References
1. Barnette (2000). Asserting oneself will not necessarily guarantee happiness or fair
treatment by other.
2. Bower, S. A. & Bower, G. H. (1991). Asserting yourself. A practical guide to positive
change. Reading, M.A: Addison Wesley.
3. Lazarus, A. A. (1973). On assertive behavior: A brief note. Behavior Therapy, 4(5),
697-699.
4. Lowrence, C. (1997). Developing assertiveness, Behaviour Therapy, 2(1), 87- 91.
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5. Mayer, J. D. & Cobb, C. D. (2000). Educational policy on emotional intelligence: Does it
make sense?, Educational Psychology Review, 12(2), 163-183.
6. Salovey, P. & Mayer, J.D. (1990). Perceiving affective content in ambiguous visual
stimuli: A component of emotional intelligence. Journal of Personality Assessment, 54,
772-781.
7. Schutte, N. S. & Malouff, J. M. (1998). Development and validation of a measure of
emotional intelligence.
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