Anxiety and Emotional Intelligence Analysis of Caregivers and Non-caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ecuador

Several studies point to the emergence of mental health risk factors such as anxiety during the pandemic. Although emotional intelligence could help as a protective factor, it is still unclear whether these factors could be differentiated when people serve as caregivers of others. In that sense, our research aimed to analyze the relationship of emotional intelligence and anxiety in caregivers and non-caregivers during pandemic. Study participants were 60 university students distributed among 28 caregivers and 32 non-caregivers. The study had a descriptive and cross-sectional non-experimental design, and measures included the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) and the Hamilton Anxiety Scale. The results showed that there were no significant differences between the caregiver and non-caregiver groups. However, we found a significant correlation between anxiety and emotional intelligence levels, where a higher level of emotional intelligence would produce lower levels of anxiety. We concluded that emotional intelligence can be considered as a protective factor for mental health. We suggest extending our findings to new analyses with variables such as resilience and uncertainty.