Influence of Parenting Conditions on Emotional Intelligence: A Comparative Study between Male and Female Adults

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is understood as a powerful skill set that enables one to comprehend and regulate emotions such that it ensures successful social engagements and productive life outcomes. Amongst the conditions that dictate the progression of EI, parenting is seen as an important factor that facilitates its development from the early years. This is because family provides the original context in which an individual learns to unscramble emotions and behaviors of an ever-growing complex social world. With this in perspective, the present study measured and compared EI in adults growing up in single-parent and both-parent homes. The study also examined the differing effects of parenting conditions on gender and its subsequent influence on EI. 200 adult participants (male=104; female=96) with a mean age of 29.45 years were included in the study. Purposive random sampling technique was used for sample selection with the criteria of those having single parents (n=100) and those with both parents (n=100). The Emotional Quotient Test was used to measure EI and the obtained data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, and two-way ANOVA. The findings of the study revealed that participants with single parents had higher EI when compared to those with both parents. This was specifically so on the dimensions of emotional maturity and emotional competence than in the domain of emotional sensitivity. Also, a non-significant difference was found in EI between male and female participants, demonstrating that parental conditions did not have a deferential effect on gender in mediating EI, at least during the later years of life.