INFLUENCE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE ON PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING: AMONG SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION TEACHERS IN ABUJA NIGERIA

Abstract

The significance of well-being among educators is paramount, as it directly
influences their effectiveness in teaching and their overall quality of life. It is against this
background that this study examined the influence of emotional intelligence on the psychological
well-being of special needs education teachers in the FCT. Abuja – Nigeria. The study employed
a cross-sectional survey design using a Proportionate sampling technique to select 159 participants
from the following four schools: Centre for Children with Special Needs (CCSN), Hope House
initiative, Sunset Speech and Language Resource Centre, and Blooming Heritage School. Ryff
Brief Psychological Well-being (1989) Scale, Emotional Intelligence Wong and Law (2002)
Scales were employed. Descriptive and inferential statistics of Linear Regression were used to test
the hypothesis. The results show that emotional intelligence significantly influences psychological
well-being (F(1,157) = 7.882; p < 0.01) with R = 0.219, R² = 0.048. The hypothesis was accepted
in the study. It was concluded that emotional intelligence (EI) significantly influenced
psychological well-being among special needs education, and it was recommended that there is an
urgent need for the development of intervention programmes aimed at increasing the emotional
intelligence level of special education needs teachers.