Coping style as a mediator to the influence of emotional intelligence on self-esteem and anxiety for juvenile delinquent males

The purpose of this study was to determine the mediating effect of coping styles on the relationship of self-esteem and anxiety to emotional intelligence for juvenile delinquent males. Additionally, the relations between this variable set were explored. A total of 204 juvenile delinquent males between 15 and 18 years of age were utilized for this study. Data were analyzed using correlation and regression analyses. This study suggests that there is a significant positive correlation between emotional intelligence and self-esteem; a positive correlation between emotional intelligence and task-oriented coping; a negative correlation between emotional intelligence and emotion-oriented coping; and that emotion-oriented coping partially mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-esteem within a juvenile delinquent population. The findings of this study provide support to both the BarOn model of emotional intelligence as well as the BarOn measure of emotional intelligence.