The Role of Self-Awareness in Predicting the Level of Emotional Regulation Difficulties among Faculty Members

Abstract

University faculty members seek to regulate emotions to achieve professional and social goals in the work environment. The process of emotion regulation is influenced by self-awareness, as self-awareness is an important predictor of self-regulation, and the outcomes of the self-regulation process depend, in part, on the level of self-awareness. The purpose of the present paper was to examine whether or not self-awareness is used to predict emotional regulation difficulties among faculty members. The current quantitative study was designed using a survey research design. The participants comprised 172 faculty members from Philadelphia University in Jordan, the Arab Open University in Jordan, and Al Falah University in the U.A.E. Data were collected using the Self-Awareness Scale (SAS) and Emotional Regulation Difficulties Scale (ERDS). The researchers revealed that increasing the self-awareness subscale (self-critical) decreases the non-acceptance of emotional responses. The researchers also found that when there is an increase in the self-awareness subscale (desire for realistic awareness), there is a tendency toward lower levels of non-acceptance of emotional responses and difficulties engaging in goal-directed. Researchers also came to that an increase in the self-awareness subscale (self-reflection) decreases the non-acceptance of emotional responses, difficulties engaging in goal-directed and impulse control difficulties. The researchers concluded there is a need to work on university faculties' self-awareness and emotional regulation to balance realistic awareness and emotional responses related to task engagement and control difficulties. Based on the findings, it is concluded that it is necessary to pay attention to enhancing self-awareness and emotion regulation among faculty members in general and conduct more scientific studies on emotional regulation difficulties to examine their relationship with other variables. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-04-017 Full Text: PDF