Mediatory role of emotional intelligence on the relationship between self-reported misconduct and bullying behaviour among secondary school students

Abstract

Despite the growing body of literature on bullying behaviour, its antecedents and outcomes, few research studies have investigated bullying behaviour and its antecedents in Nigeria. In particular, there is relatively lack of substantial empirical publications on the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between misconduct and bullying behaviour. This study explored the association between misconduct and bullying behaviour, and tested whether emotional intelligence mediates this association. A total of two-hundred and fifteen (n=215) secondary school students randomly selected from five secondary schools in Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State participated in the study. The participants comprised of boys (n=106, 49.30%) and girls (n=109, 50.70%) with ages ranged from 16 to 22 years and a mean age of 19 years (Sd= 3.19). The participants completed measures of misconduct, emotional intelligence and bullying behaviour. Demographics data of the participants were also obtained. Results indicated that: misconduct was positively associated with bullying behaviour, but negatively associated with emotional intelligence while emotional intelligence was negatively related to bullying behaviour. Lastly, emotional intelligence significantly mediated the relationship between misconduct and bullying behaviour. It was concluded that bullying behaviour among secondary school students directly and indirectly are under the influence of variables like misconduct and emotional intelligence. These findings imply that misconduct, emotional intelligence and bullying behaviour can be measure among incoming and old secondary school students. It is therefore recommended that psychological services should be harness in designing emotional intelligence training to be inculcated into secondary school curriculum in order to reduce incidence of bullying behaviour.