Investigating the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the influence of trait emotional intelligence on university adjustment: the mediating roles of coping and social support

Investigating the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the influence of trait emotional intelligence on university adjustment: the mediating roles of coping and social support

Heretofore, no studies have investigated the psychosocial mechanisms underlying the effects of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) on recent school leavers' adjustment to university. This is surprising since trait EI is, theoretically, expected to exert its most beneficial effects on academic and socio-emotional functioning under conditions of potentially high affective arousal, such as adjusting to novel educational environments. The present study specified and tested a short-term longitudinal mediation model in which perceived social support and coping were hypothesised to mediate the relation between trait EI and university adjustment (N = 250). These postulated mediating processes extend the extant literature by elucidating the psychosocial pathways through which distal affective traits may influence university adjustment. Structural equation modeling, with robust maximum likelihood estimation, revealed that trait EI exerted indirect effects on university adjustment via both social support and coping, controlling for the concomitant effects of neuroticism, extraversion and conscientiousness. Students high on trait EI were more likely to perceive greater social support, and more likely to use engagement coping in response to exposure to academic and socio-emotional stressors, which, in turn, positively influenced midterm adjustment. Limitations of this study, future directions and implications for university counselling and student services operations are discussed.