The Relationship Between Coping Strategies and Emotional Intelligence in Individuals With Different Locus of Control

The All-Russian Public Opinion Research Centre survey conducted in 2024 showed that 9 out of 10 of our citizens experience stress with varying frequency, caused by a variety of factors: work and study, health problems, finances, interpersonal relationships, everyday difficulties, political, economic and social instability, psychological problems and difficulties. At the same time, the index of need for psychological support in 2024 reached its maximum over the past six years. Among residents of large cities, approximately one in four has experience of see king professional psychological help. In the context of the current social demand for the development of psychological practical programs for maintaining mental health, preventing neuropsychiatric and psychosomatic disorders, psychological maladjustment and behavioral disorders, the study conducted acquires particular importance. The article describes the relationships between coping behavior and emotional intelligence in individuals with external and internal locus of control. The result of the study was the identification of a relationship between coping strategies aimed at active independent solution to the problem and the formation of emotional intelligence in individuals with an internal locus of control. Externals predominantly use coping strategies aimed at reducing emotional discomfort or avoidance (regression, fantasizing, emotionally oriented coping strategy). It was found that, regardless of locus of control, the use of such a coping strategy as avoidance of problem solving (through fantasizing, use of ‘soothing’ coping strategies and/or distancing) negatively correlates with measures of emotional intelligence effectiveness, hindering the process of understanding and managing emotions.