Analysing university students' life satisfaction through their socioemotional factors

This study attempts to provide evidence of the relationship between emotional intelligence and resilience, with optimism vs. pessimism as mediating variables of life satisfaction. The sample included 403 university students. The average age was 20.86 (SD= 2.56). In relation to gender, 84.61% were female and 15.39% were male participants. Information was collected by means of four tools: Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS-S), Resilience Scale (RS-14), Life Orientation Test Scale Revised (LOT-R) and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). Regarding the association between Emotional Intelligence and Resilience, a statistically significant relationship was observed. Besides, positive relationships were found between optimism and satisfaction with life; while a negative association with pessimism was noted. The results indicate that students with a high level of emotional intelligence and resilience have higher scores in optimism and life satisfaction. Moreover, the structural equation model showed that Emotional Intelligence and resilience are able to predict higher life satisfaction directly (beta=.19, and beta=.26, respectively), but they may also mediate through optimism. This mediation effect did not appear with the pessimism factor. Finally, the practical implications of this study underline the need to promote emotional intelligence and resilience education programmes to improve personal well-being.