Emotional Intelligence and Depressive Symptoms as Predictors of Happiness Among Adolescents

BACKGROUND: Given that happiness is an important construct to enable adolescents to cope better with difficulties and stress of life, it is necessary to advance our knowledge about the possible etiology of happiness in adolescents. OBJECTIVES: The present study sought to investigate the relationships of emotional intelligence, depressive symptoms, and happiness in a sample of male students in Tehran, Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of high school students in Tehran in 2012. The participants comprised of 188 male students (aged 16 to 19 years old) selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. For gathering the data, the students filled out assessing emotions scale, Beck depression inventory-II, and Oxford happiness inventory. Data analysis was carried out using descriptive and analytical statistics in statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software. RESULTS: The findings showed that a significant positive association existed between high ability of emotional intelligence and happiness (P < 0.01). Conversely, the low ability of emotional intelligence was associated with unhappiness (P < 0.01), there was a positive association between non-depression symptoms and happiness (P < 0.05), and severe depressive symptoms were positively associated with unhappiness (P < 0.01). High ability of emotional intelligence (P < 0.01) and non-depression symptoms (P < 0.05) were the strongest predictors of happiness. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reinforced the importance of emotional intelligence as a facilitating factor for happiness in adolescences. In addition, the findings suggested that depression symptoms may be harmful for happiness in adolescents.