| The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence, hardiness and the perceived job related stress among registered nurses. The study was conducted based on Salovey and Mayer' (1990) and Goleman's (1995) theories on Emotional Intelligence; Kobasa, Maddi, & Kahn's (1982) theory on Hardiness; and Spielberger & Vagg's (1999) theory on Job Stress. Three instruments were utilized: the Emotional Intelligence Scale, Personal Views Survey III, and Job Stress Survey.; Both convenient and random sampling techniques were utilized to obtain the sample. The participants of this study were 123 registered nurses who responded either through class contact, a random survey of nurses on registry list, or through their employment settings.; The Emotional Intelligence mean scores were slightly higher than the test author's normative data. The group's Hardiness Attitude mean score was within the normative group range of being "hardy," however, Cronbach's Alpha was only .58 suggesting some psychometric limitations with this measure for the present sample. The group's Job Stress Index score (mean = 24.34, with a standard deviation of 12.01) was slightly higher than the normative group mean score (mean = 20.19, with a standard deviation of 10.06), supporting the notion of nursing being a stressful profession.; There was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and the hardiness measure (r .460, p = .000); which suggested the possibility of overlapping characteristics of emotional intelligence and the hardiness measure. No statistically significant relationships were noted between emotional intelligence and job stress (r -.095, p = .296), nor was there a relationship between the hardiness measure and job stress (r -.158, p = .082).; Analyses of variance showed no difference in the nurses' emotional intelligence based on their education, areas of practice, or years of experience. In addition, no statistically significant differences were noted in job stress based on their areas of practice. An exploratory multiple regression analysis showed hardiness being a better predictor of job stress than emotional intelligence, although not significantly so. |
