The Features of Emotional Intelligence in Adolescent Orphans of Megalopolis: The Family Context

Abstract

One of the problems facing the centers for promoting family education in Moscow is the emancipation of orphans. Research has shown that adolescent orphans who are brought up in family education centers are not ready for independent life. This article analyzes the difference in emotional intelligence in adolescents depending on whether or not they were brought up in a family. Emotional intelligence is the ability to perceive, understand, manage, and regulate own and others emotions. The study involved 20 adolescents raised in a family, 20 adolescents in difficult life circumstances, and 20 adolescent-orphans. Tottenham’s “Nimstim stimulus set”, Lusin’s EmIn questionnaire for emotional intelligence, and Dembo’s cognitive evaluation of basal emotions (modified by Trubanova) were used. The two hypotheses are 1) not being raised in a family affects the intensity of adolescents’ understanding of their own emotions; 2) orphaned adolescents, in contrast to adolescents raised in a family, have a lower recognition of the emotions of another person from facial expression. The results show that the ability to perceive emotions of others in the group of adolescent-orphans was lower than in the group of adolescents raised in a family. The ability to express and understand their own emotions in the group of adolescents-orphans was lower than in the group of adolescents in difficult life circumstances. Results from EmIn and the Nimstim stimulus set showed that the perception of teenage orphans about their ability to understand emotions of other people and their real abilities do not coincide.