Engagement In Sports And Academic Pressures On College Students; Mediating Role Of Social Intelligence

Abstract

Objective of the study: The study was conducted with the purpose of engagement in sports and academic pressures on college students; mediating role of social intelligence.

Methodology: For this purpose, a quantitative research method with a cross-sectional survey approach was used to investigate the academic stress of college students about their sports participation; mediating the role of social intelligence. The sample of this study was n = 663 (30% of the total population n = 2210) applying a stratified random sampling strategy was selected from the Government Degree Colleges of Peshawar. However, after the elimination of some invalid and spoilt questionnaires; the researcher used 615 correctly filled questionnaires for data analysis. A standardized tool Students Academic Stress Inventory developed by Lin and Chin (2009) and the Social Intelligence Questionnaire developed by Chadha and Ganshen (2015) used for assessing Students' Academic Stress and Social Intelligence of College Students, Peshawar Division and participants self-reported their previous youth sports participation.

Results and Conclusion: Participation in sports is paramount in developing social intelligence competency among its participants. The analyzed data depicted that social intelligence significantly mediates the relationship between academic stress and sports participation of college students.

Recommendations: Keeping into consideration, the findings of the study; the researcher recommended that all the colleges focus on the promotion of mental health awareness among students. This can be done by arranging counseling programs in the colleges. There is a dire need to give extra attention and care to athletes if no counseling centers could help promote mental health awareness.