Predicting Married Men’s Caregiving Dimensions Based on Emotional Intelligence Components with Mediator Role of Self-Esteem

Caregiving in adult intimate relationships is one of the really important part of couples’ relation, but previous studies has paid less attention to it. The purpose of the present study was to predict the caregiving dimensions based on emotional intelligence components with the mediator role of self-esteem. 245 married men who were students at Shahid Beheshti universities participated in the study. All participants completed the Caregiving Questionnaire (CQ), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and Bradberry & Greaves Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire. The results demonstrated that all components of emotional intelligence (except social awareness) had a significant effect on all caregiving dimensions with the mediator role of self-esteem (p<0.001). It means that men with higher emotional intelligence had more self-esteem and reported more caregiving proximity and sensitivity. In contrast, men with lower emotional intelligence had lower self-esteem and reported more controlling and obsessive caregiving. Although the component of social awareness had not a significant effect on caregiving dimensions with mediator role of self-esteem, there were significant correlations between each two of these variables (p<0.001). Based on the results of the present study, it can be concluded that the caregiving is influenced by emotional intelligence and self-esteem. Therefore, enhancing the emotion intelligence and self-esteem can result in more effective caregiving (proximity and sensitivity).