THE COMPARISON OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND HARDINESS IN ADDICTS AND NON-ADDICTS

Abstract

Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is a chronic phenomenon entailing many physical, psychological, social, familial, and economic damages so that the addicted person’s social and individual actions are severely reduced. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the emotional intelligence and hardiness in addicts and non-addicts. The sample consisted of 80 drug addicts and 80 normal individuals. The sample size of addicts was determined using convenience sampling method in addiction treatment center of Kermanshah-Iran. Then, the cloning method was used to match the two groups based on the variables of age, education
level, number of family members, and family income. The participants answered Petrides and Furnham’s emotional intelligence questionnaire as well as Kobasa's 80-item hardiness questionnaire. Then the data were analyzed using statistical tests. The analysis of data showed that there is a significant difference between addicts and non-addicts in terms of emotional intelligence and hardiness so that the emotional intelligence and hardiness of addicts are lower than the normal group. Also, the level of all emotional intelligence components (optimism,understanding one's own and others’ emotions, controlling emotions, and social skills) was lower in addicts compared to non-addicts. The same results were obtained regarding the individuals hardiness; in other words, the addicted participants obtained lower scores in all hardiness components (commitment, challenge, and control). The other results of this research showed that there is a significant and negative relation between the duration of addiction and emotional intelligence as well as between the duration of addiction and hardiness. Finally, it was concluded that addicts have lower emotional intelligence and hardiness compared to normal individuals; also, there is a significant relation between the emotional intelligence and hardiness
in addicts and normal individuals (p<0.05).