Emotions as Predictors of Life Satisfaction among University Students

Emotional management is a decisive factor in building stimulating environments for the comprehensive development of individuals. In this study, 338 students enrolled in education degrees (n = 338), with an average age of 22.88 years (±5.50), participated. The following instruments were used: Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEI-S), Trait Meta Mood Scale 24 (TMMS 24) and Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQi-C). The objective was to determine the complementarity of certain dimensions of EI that predict greater life satisfaction based on the multivariate statistics of structural equations. The multi-group model obtained good structural validity (χ² = 103,729; RMSEA = 0.078; GFI = 0.917; CFI = 0.942; IFI = 0.943). In addition, significant correlations were found between life satisfaction and all dimensions were included in the emotional intelligence instruments used (p < 0.01). In terms of gender, we found that women had higher scores in all EI dimensions, in contrast to life satisfaction, where men had higher scores. The findings suggest the importance of working emotions in future educators to become satisfied and effective professionals.