© Kamla-Raj 2005 J. Hum. Ecol., 18(4): 313-317 (2005)

Establishing Connectivity of Emotional Quotient (E.Q), SpiritualQuotient (S.Q.) with Social Adjustment: A Study of Kashmiri

Migrant Women

Rajni Dhingra, Sarika Manhas* and Nirmala Thakur

P.G. Department of Home Science, University of Jammu, Jammu 180 004,Jammu and Kashmir, India

KEYWORDS Kashmiri Migrant Women. Social Adjustment. Emotional Quotient. Spiritual Quotient

ABSTRACT The present study assesses the emotional quotient (E.Q), spiritual quotient (S.Q.) and social adjustment of Kashmirimigrant women. Further, it explores the relationship that exists between these variables. The sample comprised of 50 migrantwomen (25 each classified as socially well adjusted and maladjusted respectively) in the age group of 35-45 years, residing inMuthi camp at Jammu. The tools used for data collection included interview schedule, participant observation, Social AdjustmentInventory, Spiritual Quotient Scale and Emotional Quotient Scale. The results showed that majority (86%) of the women hadmoderate S.Q and (58%) had moderate E.Q. There existed a significant positive correlation between E.Q and S.Q. Social adjustmentwas positively and significantly correlated with E.Q. (for the entire and maladjusted group). This indicates that women scoringhigh on social adjustment had low E.Q and vice versa. Social adjustment on the other hand shared a significant negative correlationwith S.Q. (for entire sample and maladjusted women). This shows that higher the social adjustment higher the S.Q. of the samplewomen.

Even though migration has been aphenomenon in the history of mankind due toecological, geographical, economic, social andother reasons. But in recent times, there had beensome socio-political upheavals in many parts ofthe world, which forced a large number of peopleto migrate from their traditional home and hearthto new resettlement areas. Insurgency inKashmir division of Jammu And Kashmir Stateled to mass migration coupled with psychosocialproblems of multiple dimensions. Uprootingfrom natural habitat under adverse circumstanceshas left the migrants culturally disintegrated andapprehensive of losing their cultural identity. Themigrants use various strategies to cope with thechanged circumstances and to make requiredadjustments.

Life presents a continuous chain of strugglefor existence and survival and hence warrantsadjustments on part of the individual.Adjustment is a continual process by which aperson varies his behaviour to produce a moreharmonious relationship between himself and hisenvironment (Gate and Gersild, 1973). Thenature of adjustment needed varies according tothe prevailing situation and conditions. It is aprocess by which a living organism maintains a

balance between its needs and the circumstancesthat influences the satisfaction of these needs.

It is generally assumed that people with highI.Q will naturally accomplish more in life. Butnew researches indicate that person’s Emotionalintelligence and spiritual intelligence might bea greater predictor of success than his/herintellectual intelligence (Goleman, 1995).

Emotional intelligence is a set of skills,attitudes, abilities and competencies thatdetermine the individual’s behaviour, reactions,state of mind, coping style and communicationstyle. These factors directly affect the level ofsuccess satisfaction, ability to cope with stress,level of self esteem, perception of control andoverall level of mental and emotional well being(http://www. swiftsite.com.vaei/index). ForCooper and Sawaf (1997) it is the ability to sense,understand and effectively apply the power andacumen of emotions as a source of human energy,information, connection and influence. Anindividual with a high E.Q has the ability to getalong with people and situation with a positiveattitude towards all aspects of life and the abilityto command respect by building relationships.It is very important for all to develop emotionalintelligence to understand and accept situation,people and changes happening around them(Chatterjee, 1998).

On the other hand the science of spirituality*Address For Correspondance: Dr. Sarika Manhas, 7A/BGandhi Nagar, Jammu 180 004, Jammu and Kashmir, IndiaPhone: 0191-2546262 (Resi.) 0191-2457137 (Off.)

314 RAJNI DHINGRA, SARIKA MANHAS AND NIRMALA THAKUR

would be incomplete if it failed to deal with howone should be related to other units. It is a wayof being and experiencing that comes aboutthrough awareness of a transcendentaldimensions and that is characterized by certainidentifiable values in regard to itself, others,nature, life and whatever one considers to beultimate (Elkins et al 1998). The contributionof these two non-I.Q factors to the socialadjustment potential of an individual is too largeto be ignored.

With these conceptual ideologies the presentresearch has been designed. A number of studieshave been carried out on Kashmiri migrants butlittle empirical evidence is available on theirsocial adjustment especially of their women folk.The present work attempts to fill in these lacunaeby providing information on this aspect. Further,it is assumed that migration would have somenegative implications on their well-being andas such would warrant some adjustments on theirpart. With this underlying assumption therelation of E.Q and S.Q is assessed with theirsocial adjustment level.

METHOD

Sample: The sample for the study comprisedof 50 Kashmiri migrant women in the age groupof 35-45 years. Out of these 50 women selected25 each belonged to the socially well-adjustedand socially maladjusted groups. The entiresample was drawn from Muthi camp located inJammu by random sampling technique (lotterymethod). Only those women were selected whohad migrated from Kashmir at the onset ofmilitancy around 13 years ago and also marriedwomen having at least one issue before migrationwere selected.

Tools: The tools used for data collectionincluded participant observations, interviews,Social Adjustment Inventory (Deva, 1982),Emotional Quotient Scale (Dalip and Chadha,2002) and Spiritual Quotient Scale (Chopra,2002).

Analysis: The data was analyzed by the useof both quantitative as well as qualitativeprocedures. Part of the results was subjected tocontent analysis while the other part was treatedby statistical procedures. This included thecomputation of the Pearson coefficient ofcorrelation and t-test of significance of thecorrelations.

RESULTS

Preliminary information: The initiallyidentified sample comprised of 83 migrantwomen, of these 40% (33) were found to bemoderately adjusted while 25 (30%) each werewell adjusted and negatively adjustedrespectively. The women who fell in the last twocategories formed the core sample of the study.The results show that most of these women(60%) were educated up to matriculation only8% were graduates while none of them were postgraduates. But at the same time none of themwere illiterates. All except one respondent wasworking and most of the families (58%)depended totally on the relief aid provided bythe government. Of the 21 families where thehead of the families were employed they werefound to be working in the post offices,educational institutions or in banks. Majority(94%) lived in nuclear families. Most (58%) hada monthly family income of 1400-2400, followedby 20% having an income of 2400-3400, 10%had 3400-4400, 8% 4400-5400 and only 4% hadan income above 6400. These women lived underpitiable conditions, as often the entire family wassharing a single room of 10”X10” floor area.

Causes and Consequences of Migration: Avast majority (72%) of the sample women hadleft their homes due to the fear of militants. 14%had fled to save the women folk from disgrace.They could not bear to see their daughters andwives desecrated at the hands of militants. 8%and 6% had migrated due the threats receivedfrom the militants and due to loss of propertyrespectively. Militants had made their liveswretched and they were continuously livingunder an ambiance of suspicion and fear. Noneof the respondents had willingly migrated fromKashmir but rather it was the unfavorableconditions that had lead them to migrate. All ofthem further, reported that had militancy notspread its wings on their homeland they wouldhave never migrated.

The respondents reported to face varioushardships due to migration. The primarydifficulty was related to inadequate living spaceas the families were forced to live in one-roomtentaments. 96% of them faced economicproblems. The hardest hit were business classfamilies, as they had to shut down theirestablishments and hence incurred greatfinancial loss. This section was unable to secure

315ESTABLISHING CONNECTIVITY OF EMOTIONAL QUOTIENT (E.Q), SPIRITUAL QUOTIENT (S.Q.)

compensatory government jobs and hence wasthe most overlooked. Besides these many womensuffered from hypertension (60%), diabetes(14%) and heart attack (2%). The reasons fortheir increased illness as reported by them werechanges in their food habits and livingconditions. They were psychologically disturbedand constantly worried about their future. Theyalso felt that migration was responsible for theirlosing their social network. It had isolated themfrom their near and dears. 94% wanted to goback to Kashmir as and when the conditionsstabilize.

Spiritual Quotient (S.Q.): On the spiritualquotient scale most of the women (86%) scoredmoderately. Only 10% and 4% of them scoredhigh and low respectively. Even category wisebreak up shows that majority of the respondentsin both the groups [well adjusted (84%) andmaladjusted (88%)] had moderate S.Q. Eventhough most of them scored average yet all ofthem indulged in different religious activities.These activities included visiting temples (86%),wearing symbols of Gods (72%), observing fasts(58%), putting vermilion on forehead (12%),following religious preachers or gurus (10%) andvisiting ashrams (4%). However, none of thempracticed yoga or mediation. All the women werespiritually and religiously inclined and hadstrong faith in the power of God.

Emotional Quotient(E.Q.): Most (58%) ofthe women were found to have moderateemotional quotient as compared to 40% havinglow and only 2% had high E.Q. Category wisebreakup also shows that 52% and 48% ofmaladjusted women scored moderate and lowrespectively. On the other hand, 64% and 32%of well-adjusted women scored moderately andlow respectively. Only 4% of the respondents ofthis group scored high. The insecurity regardingthe future, children’s jobs, and unsatisfactoryaccommodation coupled with financial problemsprobably led to emotional unstability amongthese women.

Social Adjustment and Spiritual Quotient(S.Q.): Computation of Pearson coefficient ofcorrelation between the Social Adjustment scoresand Spiritual Quotient reveals that when theentire sample was considered as a whole thereexisted a significant negative correlation betweenthe two variables (r= -0.284, p<0.05). Thenegative signs can be explained in terms of theopposite scoring pattern of the two scales used.

Higher score on Social Adjustment Inventory(SAI) is an indicative of poor social adjustment,while higher scores on Spiritual Quotient Scaleindicates higher S.Q. The correlation obtainedthus, shows that for the sample women higherthe social adjustment higher the S.Q. and lowerthe social adjustment lower the S.Q and viceversa. Category wise breakup shows that formaladjusted group of women also there was asignificant negative correlation between socialadjustment and S.Q. (r = -0.68, p<0.01). Thisimplies that probably higher spiritualism aidedin the social adjustment of these women.

But at the same time there existed aninsignificant correlation between the twovariables (r = -0.01) for the other groupcomprising of socially well-adjusted women.This shows that the social adjustment of thesewomen probably depended on other factors.

Social Adjustment and Emotional Quotient(E.Q.): The results of the correlation show thatwhen the entire sample was considered as awhole there existed a positive significantcorrelation between social adjustment and E.Q.(r = 0.32, p<0.05). This means that higher thesocial adjustment lower the E.Q. and lower thesocial adjustment higher the E.Q. and vice versa(the two scales have opposite scoring pattern).

Similar results were obtained for the groupof maladjusted women (r = 0.409, p<0.01). Forthis group of women higher their socialadjustment lower their E.Q, lower socialadjustment higher E.Q and vice versa. But forthe second group of socially well-adjusted groupthere was an insignificant correlation betweenthe two dimensions. The social adjustment ofthese women did not have any significantassociation with E.Q.

Spiritual Quotient (S.Q.)and EmotionalQuotient (E.Q.): The results of the correlationbetween S.Q and E.Q reveal that whenconsidered as a whole there existed a significantpositive correlation (r = 0.80, p<0.01) betweenthe two. This implies that higher the E.Q. higherthe S.Q, while lower the E.Q. lower the S.Q.and vice versa. These two components are highlyrelated to one another, suggesting that one couldbe the harbinger of the other.

Similar results were again obtained for themaladjusted group of women (r = 0.28, p<0.05),again pointing to the linear relation betweenthe two. However, for the second groupcomprising of well-adjusted women there was a

316 RAJNI DHINGRA, SARIKA MANHAS AND NIRMALA THAKUR

positive but insignificant correlation betweenS.Q and E.Q.

DISCUSSION

The findings of the present study indicate thatmigrant families faced hardships in light of theirforced migration. Migration was found to bemainly the result of the fear psychosis developedin their minds. Dewan (1994) had also foundthat majority of the migrants had left valley dueto fear of militants. The migrants have beenforced to live under pitiable conditions in thecamps. Their dwellings consist of one-roomaccommodations with insufficient living spaceavailable to them. These findings are similar tothose of Choudhary (2002). He also reported thatthousands of migrants from Kashmir valley liveunder miserable conditions in the camps atJammu and other places in India. The maindifficulties faced by them were concerningaccommodation, financial, health and socialstatus. A sharp rise in the health related illnesseswere reported besides causing negative impacton their psychological well-being. Madhosh(2002) found unprecedented changes in thehealth dimensions especially those related tocardiac conditions and neurologicaldisturbances. Loss of social network also had itsimplications for these migrants. Similar were thefindings of Raina (1994) who found thatmigrants faced economic, social and emotionaltrauma.

The influence of migration can be seen fromthe scores obtained by them on the socialadjustment inventory, as out of the 83 womenscreened initially only 30% were found to besocially well adjusted. On the other hand, 40%were only moderately and 30% were sociallymaladjusted. Similar were the reporting of Muju(1992) that womenfolk suffered internally andwere more worried about their new settlementin refugee camps. They felt the loss of their homeand hearth more severely than probably the malecounterparts and became victims of psycho-logical symptoms easily. Majority of them hadmoderate S.Q as well as E.Q. and there wasinsignificant difference in the quotients of thetwo groups of women. All women were found toindulge in various religious activities and thesewere used a means of distressing themselves.Tiwari et al (1980) also found that women arealways more religious then men. Suliman (1997)

also reported that when confronted with challen-ges many women use religion as a means ofoffsetting their stress. The social adjustment wasfound to be correlated significantly with both theS.Q as well as E.Q. The first set of correlationbetween social adjustment and S.Q weresignificant but negative in direction, because ofopposite scoring patterns and thus implied thatthere existed a linear relationship between thetwo. Higher the S.Q meant equally higher socialadjustment. The role of spiritualism in the socialwell-being gets confirmed by the present result.The correlation between social adjustment andE.Q were however positive in direction, showingthe inverse relationship between the two. HigherE.Q meant poorer social adjustment and viceversa. These findings are contrary to the findingsof Goleman (1995) that found that role of E.Qin the life success and adjustment is too large tobe ignored. Even Chatterjee (1998) underlinedthe role of E.Q in helping people get along in apositive and proactive manner.

Also, S.Q and E.Q were found to besignificantly and positively correlated to oneanother. These findings are similar to those ofJoshi (1997) who found that spirituality and emo-tional maturity are related to one another in sucha manner that increase in one is associated withincrease in another and vice versa. Emotionallymature individuals are more spiritual, whilethose low in spirituality are emotionally lessmature.

These correlations were found to be signi-ficant only when the entire sample was consi-dered as a whole and for the maladjusted groupof women. The insignificance of the results forthe well adjusted group of women show thatprobably for their adjustment they used someother coping mechanisms.

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