The effect of parental loss on emotional intelligence and problem solving skills

This work aims to investigate the effects of parental loss to the emotional quotient and the problem solving skills among middle school children. We sampled populations of 105 middle school children between ages 10 and 13, who lost at least one of their parents and another 102 students between similar ages, whose parents are alive. For data collection, we employed the "Bar-On emotional quotient inventory child and adolescent form", which was translated by Köksal, and the "Problem Solving Skills Inventory for Middle School Children" developed by Serin, Bulut Serin ve Saygılı in 2010 Results show that there is no significant difference of emotional quotient and its factors as intra-personal, positive impression, adaptability, stress management and general mood among the children who lost at least one of their parents and the ones whose parents are alive. However, we show that the scores of the inter-personal factor of the children with parental loss are higher. Similarly, the analysis of the problem solving skill results show that there is no significant difference of the general problem solving skills and the trust in problem solving skills scores among the two groups. But, the children with parental loss scored higher in the self control factor.