The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Quality of InterpersonalRelationships:Mediation Effect of Narcissism

Emotional intelligence contributes to improvement of the quality of interpersonal relationships through understanding and management of emotions. Concerning the importance of examining the determining and effective varibales in the quality of interpersonal relationships, the purpose of the present study was to examine the mediatory role of narcissism on the relationship between emotional intelligence and the quality of interpersonal relationships. A group of 609 university students (165 males, 399 females, 45 unknown) were included in this study. All participants were asked to complete the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS), the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-60), and the Narcissitic Personality Inventory (NPI). The results of the study indicated that the initial hypothetical model had a good fit with the observed data and that all the paths had significant coefficients in the hypothetical model. The results showed that emotional intelligence had a significant positive correlation with the quality of interpersonal relationships. On the other hand, narcissism had a significant negative correlation with the quality of interpersoanl relationships. Results of the path analysis indicated that emotional intelligence indirectly affects the quality of interpersonal relationships via narcissism. Based on the results of the present study it can be concluded that the quality of interpersonal relationships are influenced by emotional intelligence and narcissism.