The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence, Mental Hygiene and Social Adjustment of Mentally Retarded Children’s Parents and Normal Children’s Parents

The research purpose was to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence, mental hygiene and social adjustment of mentally retarded children’s parents and normal children’s’ parents. Therefore, the research employed a descriptive-survey method and the statistical population included parents of mentally retarded and normal children living in Zahedan City, out of a sample of 200 individuals was randomly selected. The data gathering tools included general health, emotional intelligence and adjustment questionnaires. The reliability of the questionnaires was equal to 84.9, 82 and 79, respectively. The research hypotheses were tested using Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test and ANOVA. Results of Pearson correlation coefficient indicated that there exists significant relationship between emotional intelligence, mental hygiene and social adjustment of mentally retarded children’s parents. Results of paired t-test indicated that the emotional intelligence of mentally retarded children is in an average level and their mental hygiene and social adjustment are in low levels. Furthermore, the results of independent t-test supported the between-group difference in terms of emotional intelligence, mental hygiene and social adjustment. Moreover, ANOVA test indicated that there exists significant difference between emotional intelligence, mental health, social adjustment and level of education among the mentally retarded children’s parents.

Keywords: Emotional intelligence, mental hygiene, social adjustment, parents of mentally retarded children.