The relationship between the styles of coping with stress and emotional intelligence levels of teachers

ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE STYLES OF COPING WITH STRESS AND EMOTIONAL NTELLIGENCE LEVELS OF TEACHERS Sirin, Gülcan Graduation Thesis, Counseling and Guidance Assistant Professor Leyla ERCAN May ? 2007 In this study, the relationship between the styles of coping with stress and emotional intelligence levels of private course teachers were examined. The main and interaction effects of teachers? emotional intelligence and gender, and branch on coping with stress styles were investigated. The population of present study composed of teachers working in private courses in Ankara in 2006-2007 academic years. A total of 218 teachers, consisting 104 male and 114 female, from 56 private courses were randomly selected as the sample of the study. In order to determine the levels of emotional intelligence of teachers, Emotional Intelligence Scale, developed by Ergin (2000), was implemented. To gather information about the styles of coping with stress of teachers, The Inventory of Coping with Stress, developed by Özbay (1993) was used. Two-Way ANOVA for independent samples procedures were used to uncover the main and interaction effects of emotional intelligence and gender, and emotional intelligence and teachers? branches on the styles of coping with stress. The results of the study indicated that the level emotional intelligence of teachers had a significant effect on teachers? coping styles with stress. Teachers with a high level of emotional intelligence were likely to have more adequate coping skills. Verbal lessons? teachers with relatively higher emotional intelligence levels were better at coping with stress.