AN EVALUATION OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND LOCUS OF CONTROL AS CORRELATES OF DEPRESSION AMONG VISUALLY IMPAIRED UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

This study examined Emotional Intelligence and Locus of Control as correlates of Depression among Visually Impaired Students. Fifty (50) participants were used for the study. They consisted of 20 females and 30 males selected through purposive sampling. Their age ranged from 17 to 29 with mean age of 2.42 and standard deviation of 0.859. Three instruments were administered to the participants namely: Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale [1], Locus of Control Scale [2] and Depression Scale adopted from Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 [3]. The design employed for the study is a correlational design and correlational analysis was used to test two hypotheses at <.01 and <.05 levels of significance. The results obtained from this study showed that Emotional Intelligence did not significantly correlate with Depression. However, one of its dimensions, Self Emotions Appraisal significantly correlated positively with Depression. The results again showed that Locus of Control significantly correlated negatively with Depression. Based on the findings of this study, the researcher therefore recommended that visually impaired students should be encouraged to take responsibility for the outcomes of events in their life as this will spur them into becoming better at what they might not be good at and enlightened on how to intelligently handles their emotions, as this may go a long way in helping them establish and maintain healthy personal and interpersonal relationships.