Effect of Mother’s Work and Perceived Parenting Style on Emotional Intelligence Among Adolescent Nursing Students

Background: Emotional intelligence (EI) has been associated with positive outcomes for nursing students. The most significant factor in establishing an adolescent's level of emotional intelligence is their nurturing environment, chiefly their mothers because of their prolonged direct contact with them. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of a mother’s work and perceived parenting style on emotional intelligence among adolescent nursing students. Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study. Setting: This study was conducted at the five technical secondary nursing schools for boys and girls affiliated with the Egyptian Ministry of Health, and Population in Damietta governorate. Subjects: A convenient sample consisted of 417 adolescent nursing students. Data collection tools: Three tools were used; 1 st tool was a structured questionnaire to assess socio-demographic data of the studied adolescent nursing student and their parents, 2 nd tool was the profile of emotional competence (PEC) to assess Intrapersonal EI, Interpersonal EI, and global EI, and 3 rd tool was the scale of parenting style to assess perceived parenting styles. Results: There was no statistically significant relationship between the mother's work either with the emotional intelligence of studied adolescent nursing students or the parenting style as perceived by them. There were highly statistically significant correlations between the studied adolescent nursing students' EI and parent styles as perceived by them. Conclusion: Up on the finding of the current study, it was found that more than half of the studied adolescent nursing students have a moderate level of EI. On the other hand, there was a highly significant relationship between the quality of time spent with their mothers and their intrapersonal and global emotional intelligence. Recommendations: Mothers should spend quality time with their adolescents; listening to them, especially about their difficulties in understanding and dealing with others. The Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC) scale should be applied to nursing students to figure out those who need to develop intrapersonal or interpersonal EI or both.