The impact of differentiation of self and emotional intelligence on university students' identity development

In this study, the impact of differentiation of self and emotional intelligence on the identity development of university students was examined. A total of 500 students from various faculties of Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa participated in the study. The participants were selected using a simple random sampling method. To determine the identity development levels of university students, the Ego Identity Process Scale was used; to measure levels of differentiation of self, the Differentiation of Self Scale was administered; and to assess dimensions of emotional intelligence, the Emotional Intelligence Scale - Short Form was utilized. In addition to these measurement tools, a "Personal Information Form" was applied to investigate demographic variables. In the analysis of the data, parametric tests were used for variables that met the normality assumption, while non-parametric tests were applied for those that did not. Furthermore, to determine whether the independent variables differed in terms of demographic characteristics (such as gender, age, class level, and socioeconomic status), the Independent Samples t-Test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were conducted. Pearson correlation analysis was used to assess the relationships between the study's key variables. A multiple regression analysis was performed to test whether the relationship between differentiation of self and emotional intelligence was significant. The study results showed that correlation analyses revealed significant positive relationships between the general dimensions of emotional intelligence and the ego identity process. Regression analysis indicated that as differentiation of self increased, identity development also increased; however, emotional intelligence was observed to contribute more significantly to this development. Furthermore, significant differences were found in certain sub-dimensions based on demographic variables such as gender and parental education level