A REGIONAL STUDY OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG URBAN AND RURAL ADOLESCENT STUDENTS BASED ON LEVELS OF SMARTPHONE ADDICTION

Abstract

The widespread availability of digital tools has reshaped the daily routines, communication styles, and learning processes of adolescent students. Smartphones, in particular, have emerged as a medium that integrates study, information, entertainment, and social interaction into a single device. Alongside the benefits, it is crucial to examine how the growing dependence on smartphones relates to the emotional functioning of students. This research paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis of emotional intelligence among urban and rural adolescent students based on low and high levels of smartphone addiction. The study is based on 800 ninth-grade students—comprising 400 urban and 400 rural students—from selected government high schools in Raipur district. Smartphone addiction was measured using the scale developed by Dr. Vijayshree and Dr. Masood Ansari, while emotional intelligence was assessed using the scale developed by Dr. Arun Kumar Singh and Dr. Shruti Narayan. The mean smartphone addiction score for the entire sample was 70.16; students scoring 70 or below were categorized into the 'low impact' group, while those scoring 71 or above were placed in the 'high impact' group. Mean, standard deviation, and independent sample t-tests were employed for analysis. In the urban area, the mean emotional intelligence score was 22.17 for the low-impact group and 14.21 for the high-impact group; in the rural area, the corresponding means were 22.06 and 14.90. The differences observed in both regional analyses were found to be statistically significant. The findings indicate that there is a notable difference in the emotional intelligence of students—in both urban and rural contexts—based on their level of smartphone addiction.