Mindfulness, emotional intelligence and stress : A correlational study

Pages:426-428
Harpreet Kanwal Chhabra and Sharanpreet Kaur (Department of Psychology, Panjab University, Chandigarh)

Mindfulness involves a voluntary, fluid regulation of attention. It is the ability to ‘stay on strategy’ (Zeidan et al., 2010). Mindfulness helps to stay focused on the present, thus keeping out distressful thoughts (e.g., Emmerling & Goleman, 2003) and by promoting adaptive emotion regulation. This study aimed at exploring mindfulness in relation to emotional intelligence and stress. The initial sample comprised of 200 males and 200 females in the age range of 15 to 19 yrs. (mean age=16.51 yrs. for males and 16.42 yrs. for females) drawn from various Government Model Senior Secondary Schools of Chandigarh, India. Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale by Brown & Ryan (2003), Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test by Schutte et al. (1998) and Adolescent Stress Questionnaire by Byrne et al. (2007), were used for the study. Results highlighted interesting trends in relation to mindfulness, emotional intelligence and stress.