Emotional Intelligence as a Mediator between Social Anxiety and Peer Pressure among Young Adults of Pakistan
Contributors
- Muhammad Afzal Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, MY University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Fayyaz Ahmed Anjum Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, MY University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Bibi Asma Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, MY University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
- Sami Ullah Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, MY University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Abstract
Why does emotional intelligence protect some young people from social anxiety and peer pressure but not others, and does it work the same way in a culture built around family honor and group loyalty as it does in the Western samples where the construct was developed? This study explored that question among 200 Pakistani young adults (100 men, 100 women; 27% students, 73% employed) recruited from four cities using stratified quota sampling, each of whom completed self-report measures of emotional intelligence (EI), social anxiety, and susceptibility to peer pressure. As expected, EI was negatively related to social anxiety, r = -.324, p < .001, and social anxiety was in turn strongly related to peer-pressure vulnerability, r = .444, p < .001 - a pattern consistent with a partial mediation pathway running from EI through anxiety to conformity. What was not expected was a positive, not negative, correlation between EI and peer-pressure vulnerability itself, r = .227, p = .001. This is not considered to be noise but something that actually says something about the way life works within a collectivist society, where those who have the capacity to understand the expectations of the group are not necessarily those individuals that would resist conformity. The findings regarding gender followed a similar line of thought, where the level of EI was similar among men and women, t(198) = 0.57, p = .566, while women had higher levels of social anxiety, t(198) = 2.23, p = .022, and an almost significant gap with regard to peer pressure, t(198) = 1.93, p = .055. The occupation factor had an effect as well; students showed higher levels of social anxiety compared to employed people, but lower willingness to openly conform.
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Corresponding Author
Muhammad Afzal
Clinical Psychologist, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, MY University, Islamabad, Pakistan.
Corresponding Author: [email protected]
