The Effects of Instruction of Emotional Intelligence Skills on Coping Strategies

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of instruction of emotional intelligence skills on coping strategies. 95 high school students (47 girls, 48 boys) participated in this study who were divided into experimental and control groups. First, The Coping Inventory for Stressful Situation (CISS) was administrated to 4 groups (2 experimental & 2 Control groups), then experimental groups participated in emotional intelligence skills class for 16 sessions of 1/30 hours. The instructed skills included: self awareness skill, negative thought and stop skills, stress and coping strategies, self assertive, empathy, positive relationship, problem-solving and decision skills. Finally, The data were analyzed using: mean, standard deviation and t–test. The result of this study showed that there was a significant difference between problem focused group in boys and emotionfocused groups in girls. It was suggested that emotional intelligence skills instruction can be are useful for adolescents but this process should be persistent and organized.