Mediating Effects of Emotional Intelligence in the Empathy of Parents and Social Interest of Middle and High School Students

In this study, it is to check how parental empathy perceived by middle and high school students affects middle and high school students' social interests and verify the mediating effect of emotional intelligence in the process. To this end, a self-report survey was conducted on 10 middle and high school students in two cities in Jeollanam-do, who agreed to the research survey, and the final 393 students were collected. The data analysis used SPSS 21.0, and the intermediate effects were recognized by frequency analysis, descriptive statistical analysis, t-test and ANOVA, Scheffe, Cronbach'α, correlation analysis, mid-term analysis, and sobel verification. The results of the study showed that parents' empathy, which middle and high school students were late for, was in the order of empathic emotional response, perspective acceptance, and emotional perception, and emotional intelligence showed the highest level of emotional intelligence. It was followed by emotional expression, emotional control, emotional utilization, and empathy. In the case of middle and high school students' social interests, other people's interests were the highest in the lower factors, followed by social self-interest, community interest, and spiritual interest. Second, it was emotional intelligence that showed the highest correlation in social interest. Next, middle and high school students showed empathy for their late fathers, empathy for their entire fathers, and empathy for their late fathers. In addition, middle and high school students were shown to be perceived mother empathy-sympathetic emotional response, perceived mother empathy-sentence perception, perceived mother empathy, perceived father empathy-perspective acceptance, and perceived mother empathy-perspective acceptance. Third, emotional intelligence has been shown to have full mediating effects in mother empathy-perspective acceptance and social interest, father empathy-perspective acceptance and social interest, which middle and high school students are late for. On the other hand, emotional intelligence was found to have a partial mediating effect in the late father's empathy-perception, perceived father's empathy-perception, perceived mother's empathy-perception, perceived mother's empathy and social interest. Through this study, it was confirmed that the empathy of parents who were late by middle and high school students was an important variable in emotional intelligence and social interest of middle and high school students. It is also meaningful that it revealed the importance of emotional intelligence by verifying the role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between parents' empathy and social interest of middle and high school students. Subsequent research suggestions based on these findings are as follows: In order to increase the social interest of middle and high school students, parents' emotional perception and empathy for their children are important, and related education and programs should be expanded because there has been less emotional control training for parents and counseling and educational approaches to improve their empathy.