The moderating role of gender inequality and age among emotional intelligence, homesickness and development of mood swings in university students

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of the demographic variables in emotional intelligence, homesickness and the development of mood swings in university students. Additionally, the paper investigates the relationship among emotional intelligence, homesickness and mood swings in university students.

Design/methodology/approach

Purposive sampling technique was employed based on a cross-sectional design. The sample comprised 304 university students (male students, n=210, female students, n=94). Three scales were used to measure the homesickness, emotional intelligence and positive and negative mood swings in university students.

Findings

The results revealed that homesickness was positively and significantly correlated with mood swings (r=0.34, p<0.001) and negative mood swings (r=0.49, p<0.001). The result also displayed that emotional intelligence was correlated with homesickness (r=−0.15, p<0.05), positive mood swings (r=0.33, p<0.05) and negative mood swings (r=−0.24, p<0.05). The results of the analysis revealed that demographic variables such as age and gender were the moderator between homesickness and development of mood swings. The results also revealed that demographic variable such as gender was the moderator between emotional intelligence and mood swings. This study recommended that those younger students who had experienced homesickness were more likely to develop negative mood swings as compared to older students.

Social implications

The study also recommended that those young students who had emotional intelligence were less likely to develop negative mood swings as compared to older students.

Originality/value

The study further recommended that those female students who had experienced homesickness were more likely to develop positive mood swings as compared to male students. Recommendations of the currents study are that university students can benefit equally but female students can benefit more from an intervention addressing homesickness. This study would be helpful in pedagogical and clinical settings to raise the awareness to effectively deal with their children.

Citation

Abbas, J., Aqeel, M., Wenhong, Z., Aman, J. and Zahra, F. (2018), "The moderating role of gender inequality and age among emotional intelligence, homesickness and development of mood swings in university students", International Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare, Vol. 11 No. 5, pp. 356-367. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHRH-11-2017-0071