An analysis of irrational beliefs of 12th grade students according to several variables

This study has been carried out to analyze whether `irrational belief? levels of 12th grade students show any kind of difference regarding their emotional intelligence and some other variables. While this differentiation in question has been examined, it has been assessed whether the rational beliefs have differed in terms of emotional intelligence?s sub-dimensions such as self-awareness, interpersonal relationships, stress management, compliance with the conditions and the environment and the general mood, along with the demographic factors such as gender, the number of sister or brother, parents? education level, father?s profession type, mother?s work status and monthly income level. The research participants consist of 272 students who are 12th grade students, 122 (% 44, 85) of whom are girls and 152 (%55,15) of whom are boys, from the following schools in the central district of Istanbul: Çapa Anatolian Teacher High School, Sehremini Anatolian High School, Sultanahmet Anatolian Vocational and Industrial Vocational High School and Sisli Anatolian Vocational and Industrial Vocational High School. During the data collection stage of research, ?Irrational Beliefs Scale? developed by Jones 1969 and adapted to Turkish by Yurtal in 1999; ?Emotional Intelligence Scale? developed by Bar-On in 1997 and adapted to Turkish by Acar in 2001; ?Personal Information Form? prepared by the researcher in order to collect information on demographic characteristics have been used. For the analysis of the study, SPSS 11.5 program was used; in order to determine the levels of irrational beliefs in terms of emotional intelligence?s sub-dimensions and demographic features t test has been used; and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) has been used for the difference between the groups , Levene statistic has been made use of to assess whether the variances have been distributed homogeneously; Scheffe has been used if the variances have been homogeneous, Tamhane?s T2 test has been used if the variances have not been homogeneus. Also Pearson Corelation Factor has been used to analyze the relation between irrational beliefs and emotional intelligence?s sub-dimensions. The findings obtained through the research can be summarized as follows: The levels of irrational beliefs of 12th grade students? differ significantly in terms of sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence such as self-awareness, interpersonal relationships, and environmental compatibility conditions, stress management and general mood of the sub-dimensions. Additionally, a negative correlation has been figured out between the levels of irrational beliefs and all these sub-dimensions of emotional intelligence. The levels of irrational beliefs of students have not differed in terms of demographic characteristics such as; the gender, the number of sister or brother, father?s profession type, mother?s work status the mother?s education level, the father?s education level and monthly income levels. Key Words: Irrational Beliefs, Emotional Intelligence, 12th Grade Students.