On the relationship between the emotional intelligence of caregivers and the attachment of the institutionalized children they care for : a correlational study

Abstract

The purpose of this correlational study was to explore the relationship between caregivers’ emotional intelligence and the security attachment of the institutionalized children they care for in a Lebanese orphanage, henceforth referred to as Orphanage X. In exploring such a potential relationship, a primary aim of this research was to elucidate some of the factors that might influence the institutionalized child-caregiver relationship and, to the extent feasible, provide some recommendations in this regard to orphanage X and similar institutions invested in improving such a relationship. The study was conducted in a setting that has a general population of 43 children in orphanage X and the nine caregivers that took care of them. For methodological reasons, however, only 23 children could be included in the study. Thus, the study sample came to comprise nine caregivers and 23 children under their care. Three instruments were used: the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short from (TEIQue-SF), to assess caregivers’ emotional intelligence; the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment-revised (IPPA-R) , to measure the children’s attachment; and the Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire-parent form (SDQ), to screen the children for psychological problems. The tools were administered within two consecutive days. On the first day, the nine caregivers filled out the SDQ for each of the children in their care based on their perceptions of them. On the second day, the IPPAR was administered to each of the 23 children before the TEIQue-SF was administered to each caregiver. Following data collection, correlational analyses were conducted, including a logistic regression method of analysis. The findings did not identify associations with enough statistical significance to confirm any of the study’s hypotheses. Statistical power, given the small sample size, was too weak to reveal a possible small-to-moderate size effect. Nevertheless, some useful findings emerged. For example, the institutionalized child’s age appeared to be an important variable, inasmuch as it showed a significant correlation with the caregiver’s emotional intelligence and a significant correlation with the child’s attachment. Future studies should include large samples, perhaps by pooling participants from several orphanages across Lebanon. This, however, was beyond the scope of the present study.