DOI: 10.5176/2251-1865_CBP14.63
Authors: Dee Bartrum, Victoria Alexander, and Richard Hicks
Abstract:
Effective career decision making has been associated with parental attachment, and emotional intelligence has also been seen to be linked with recollected parental support styles. However, until recently there has been little research on how emotional intelligence (as a personal trait) might be linked with career decision making and with the levels of currently perceived (peer) attachments. Emotional intelligence is receiving increased attention in relation to major life decisions including career decisions but few studies have identified how trait emotional intelligence facets are related to career certainty and career indecision, nor examined the links with peer attachment variables (trust, communication, alienation). This paper reports a study of 142 university students who completed the full version of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), the peer attachment section of the Inventory of Parental and Peer Attachment (IPPA) and the Career Decision Scale (CDS). Significant inter-correlations as anticipated were found between a number of the scales of the TEIQue, the IPPA, and the CDS. In regression equations career indecision was predicted by the self-control and emotionality domains of the TEIQue and by the trust and alienation scales of the IPPA (but not the communication scale). When the subscales of the two domains were related to career indecision, only impulsivity, emotion expression and relationships were significant contributors. These three EI subscales along with Alienation from the peer attachment scales all contributed significantly to career indecision. Implications for theory and practice are drawn.
Keywords: Trait emotional intelligence; Peer Attachment, Career indecision
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