Emotional Intelligence and its Relationship to Psychological Stress Coping Techniques among Drug Abusers and Non-Drug Abusers

Abstract

The present study aims at revealing the relationship between emotional intelligence (and its sub-components) and stress coping techniques among drug abuser and non-drug abuser groups. The study also seeks to determine whether there are significant differences in stress coping techniques among drug abusers according to the type of substance used or the experience of drug abuse. The researcher used the descriptive approach (correlative-comparative method) seen as relevant to the objectives and questions of the research. The study tools were applied to two samples. The first sample consists of (95) drug abusers, and the second sample consists of (97) non-drug abusers including both public and private sector employees and university students.

The findings show that there is a statistically significant positive relationship (a <0.01, 0.05) between emotional intelligence along with some of its sub-components and stress coping techniques between the two groups. The study also reveals, through the use of T-Test, that there are significant differences in the means of emotional intelligence along with some of its sub-components between the two samples. In addition, the findings of the one-way analysis of variance test (ANOVA) show that there are statistically significant differences between the means of stress coping techniques between the two samples. Finally, the study shows some significant differences in the means of stress coping techniques attributed to the difference in the type of drug taken and the duration of the narcotic substance abuse. The study concludes by presenting a number of recommendations as well as suggestions for further research in the field.