Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship to Stress and Transition Shock Amongst First-Year College Students

Abstract

Freshmen students often experience transition shock as their environment change from high
school to college. They are also under the impression that success in college depends solely
on their intellect and usually do not consider emotional intelligence a factor into the success
of their academic endeavors. The purpose of this study was to investigate emotional
intelligence and its relationship to stress and transition shock amongst first-year college
students. A descriptive-correlational research design was employed. One hundred nineteen
respondents were chosen using purposive sampling technique. Frequency, percentage
distribution, weighted mean, standard deviation, and Pearson r correlation coefficient test
were used to analyze and treat the collected data. Respondents showed a high emotional
intelligence having an overall mean of 2.73 (SD = 0.35). The extent of the respondents’ stress
was also high with an overall mean of 2.61 (SD = 0.59). As for the extent of transition shock
felt by the respondents, the overall mean found is at 2.55 (SD = 0.52) which is also
interpreted as high. A moderate negative significant relationship between emotional
intelligence and stress (r = -0.476), as well as the relationship between emotional intelligence
and transition shock (r = -0.417) among the freshmen. It is recommended that nursing
students and educators become aware of emotional intelligence as a factor that contributes to
the success of the students’ transition from high school to college. Also, it is emphasized to
further develop the emotional intelligence of the students to manage their stress and transition
shock to aid in the success of the students’ academic endeavors.