Family Functioning, Emotional Intelligence and Suicidal Tendencies among Adolescents
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jssr.v6i1.653Keywords:
Emotional Intelligence, Family Functioning, Suicidal Tendencies, Adolescents, Family System, Maternal EducationAbstract
The current study was planned with the aim to measure the relationship among family functioning, emotional intelligence and suicidal tendencies in adolescents by using a cross sectional survey research design. Through multi-stage stratified sampling, a sample of 1000 adolescents’ age ranging from 13–19 years was recruited from schools and colleges of Gujrat, Pakistan. The General Functioning of Family Scale was used to collect data on general functioning (Kareem et al., 2022), the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale was employed to collect data on emotional intelligence (Zahra et al., 2024), and the Suicidal Tendencies Scale(Kausar & Fatima 2024) was used to collect data on suicide tendencies. Analysis of Pearson correlation showed significant negative relationships among suicidal tendencies, family functioning (r = −0.431, p < 0.01) and emotional intelligence (r = −0.209, p < 0.01). ANOVA and t -test results showed significant differences in emotional intelligence of adolescents (F = 39.29, p = 0.001) in relation to the maternal education. Further, the females had higher emotional intelligence as compared to the males (p = 0.002). Conversely, the gender and a family structure (nuclear & joint) did not have a significant influence on suicidal tendencies. The findings highlight the importance of the systemic interventions, implying that the enhancement of the family cohesion and incorporation of the emotional literacy programs into the educational curriculums are key measures in preventing suicide among the adolescents.
References
Alvarez-Subiela, X., Castellano-Tejedor, C., Villar-Cabeza, F., Vila-Grifoll, M., & Palao-Vidal, D. (2022). Family Factors Related to Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents. International journal of environmental research and public health, 19(16), 9892. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19169892
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1 attachment (2nd ed.). New York: Basic Books
Cash, S. J., & Bridge, J. A. (2009). Epidemiology of youth suicide and suicidal behavior. Current opinion in pediatrics, 21(5), 613–619. https://doi.org/10.1097/MOP.0b013e32833063e1
Cha, C. B., & Nock, M. K. (2009). Emotional intelligence is a protective factor for suicidal behavior. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 48(4), 422–430. https://doi.org/10.1097/CHI.0b013e3181984f44
Domínguez-García, E., & Fernández-Berrocal, P. (2018). The Association Between Emotional Intelligence and Suicidal Behavior: A Systematic Review. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2380. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02380
Epstein, J. L. (2018). School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Preparing Educators and Improving Schools. Routledge.
https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429494673
Fatima, A., Kausar, N., & Mufti, S. (2025). Social Emotional Competency, Perceived Inter-parental Conflicts and Psychological Flexibility among Students. Journal of Regional Studies Review, 4(3), 125-133.
Fatima, B., & Kausar, N. (2024). Development and validation of Suicidal Tendencies Scale (STS) [Unpublished doctoral dissertation or scale manual]. Department of Psychology, University of Gujrat
Freed, R. D., Rubenstein, L. M., Daryanani, I., Olino, T. M., & Alloy, L. B. (2016). The Relationship Between Family Functioning and Adolescent Depressive Symptoms: The Role of Emotional Clarity. Journal of youth and adolescence, 45(3), 505–519. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-016-0429-y
Galindo-Domínguez, H., & Losada, D. (2023). Emotional intelligence and suicidal ideation in adolescents: The mediating and moderating role of social support. Revista de Psicodidáctica (English ed.).
Glenn, C. R., Franklin, J. C., & Nock, M. K. (2015). Evidence-based psychosocial treatments for self-injurious thoughts and behaviors in youth. Journal of clinical child and adolescent psychology : the official journal for the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, American Psychological Association, Division 53, 44(1), 1–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2014.945211
Irfan, R. ., Zahra, S. T. ., & Saleem, S. (2025). Family Environment and Adolescent Mental Health: Unpacking the Mediating Role of Differentiation of Self. Journal of Professional & Applied Psychology, 6(4), 524–535. https://doi.org/10.52053/jpap.v6i4.456
Joseph, D. L., & Newman, D. A. (2010). Emotional intelligence: an integrative meta-analysis and cascading model. The Journal of applied psychology, 95(1), 54–78. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017286
Kagitcibasi, C. (2017). Family, Self, and Human Development Across Cultures: Theory and Applications (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315205281
Kareem, A., Khawar, R., & Habib, S. (2022). Initial psychometric properties of general functioning of family scale (Urdu version). Pakistan Journal of Social Research, 4(1), 53-60.
Kausar, N., Manaf, A., & Shoaib, M. (2025). Suicidal ideation among adolescents: a case of bullying victimization and emotional intelligence. OMEGA-Journal of death and dying, 90(3), 1279-1292.
Kim, S. M., Lee, S. K., Chang, J., Son, J. S., Kim, K. H., & Park, S. M. (2026). Family structure, adolescent mental health, and the role of advisors in the cultural and social context of South Korea. Scientific reports, 16(1), 1613. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-30983-6
Manczak, E. M., Skerrett, K. A., Gabriel, L. B., Ryan, K. A., & Langenecker, S. A. (2018). Family support: A possible buffer against disruptive events for individuals with and without remitted depression. Journal of family psychology : JFP : journal of the Division of Family Psychology of the American Psychological Association (Division 43), 32(7), 926–935. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000451
Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (2016). The ability model of emotional intelligence: Principles and updates. Emotion Review, 8(4), 290–300. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073916639667
Peng, B., Hu, N., Guan, L., Chen, C., Chen, Z., & Yu, H. (2023). Family functioning and suicidal ideation in college students: a moderated mediation model of depression and acceptance. Frontiers in public health, 11, 1137921. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1137921
Quintana-Orts, C., Mérida-López, S., Rey, L., Neto, F., & Extremera, N. (2020). Untangling the Emotional Intelligence-Suicidal Ideation Connection: The Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies in Adolescents. Journal of clinical medicine, 9(10), 3116. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9103116
Rodriguez, E. M., Donenberg, G. R., Emerson, E., Wilson, H. W., Brown, L. K., & Houck, C. (2014). Family environment, coping, and mental health in adolescents attending therapeutic day schools. Journal of adolescence, 37(7), 1133–1142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2014.07.012
Salmela-Aro, K. (2011). Stages of Adolescence. In B. B. Brown, & M. J. Prinstein (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Adolescence (pp. 360-368). Academic press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-373951-3.00043-0
Valadi, S., Gabbard, C., Sadrolsadati, S. S., & Elyasi, M. (2022). Maternal Emotional Intelligence and the Provision of Child Motor Affordances. Children (Basel, Switzerland), 9(10), 1442. https://doi.org/10.3390/children9101442
Van Renen, L. J., & Wild, L. G. (2008). Family functioning and suicidal ideation/behaviour in adolescents: a pilot study. Journal of child and adolescent mental health, 20(2), 111–121. https://doi.org/10.2989/JCAMH.2008.20.2.7.690
Zahra, M., & Hung, D. K. M. (2024). Psychometric Properties and Urdu Translation of Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). Authorea Preprints.
Zhang, Y. Y., Lei, Y. T., Song, Y., Lu, R. R., Duan, J. L., & Prochaska, J. J. (2019). Gender differences in suicidal ideation and health-risk behaviors among high school students in Beijing, China. Journal of global health, 9(1), 010604. https://doi.org/10.7189/jogh.09.010604
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s). Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
JSSR's Editorial Board shares the vision of providing free access to information, education, and science for everyone, thus promoting its content through an OPEN ACCESS POLICY, fulfilling the DOAJ definition of open access. The JSSR adheres to an Open Access and Copyright Licensing Policy based on the belief that making research freely accessible to the public promotes greater global knowledge sharing.
The JSSR uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. The authors who apply and publish in JSSR consent to abide by the copyright policy set out in the Creative Commons 4.0 license (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International license).
- Copyright in the Journal of Social Sciences Review is retained by the author(s).
- Authors also grant any third party the right to use the article freely as long as its integrity is maintained and its original authors, citation details and publisher are identified.
While "By 'open access' to this literature, we mean its free availability on the public internet, permitting any users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles, crawl them for indexing, pass them as data to software, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself."


