The Influence of College Students’ Emotional Intelligence on How Well They Adjust to College Life: Serial Mediating Effects of Social Support and Career Adaptability

Objectives The objective of this research is to identify the mediating effects of college students’ emotional intelligence on how well they adjust to college life, with social support and career adaptability acting as media, by focusing on emotional intelligence which promotes adjustment to college life. Methods To this end, a survey was conducted with 502 male and female college students from four-year universities in South Korea. After excluding careless responding, a final sample of 473 was used for model analysis. The data were analyzed using SPSS 27 and Process Macro Model 6. Results First, it was found that emotional intelligence and career adaptability of college students directly influence their adaptation to college life, whereas social support was not found to have a significant impact on college adaptation. Second, emotional intelligence of college students indirectly affects adaptation to college life through career adaptability, and emotional intelligence was found not to influence college adaptation through social support. Furthermore, the sequential mediating effects of college students’ emotional intelligence on adaptation to college life through social support and career adaptability were confirmed. Conclusions This study empirically validated the research question that emotional intelligence not only directly influences social support, career adaptability, and adaptation to college life significantly but also indirectly affects adaptation to college life through sequential mediation of social support and career adaptability. This underscores the importance of considering the role and contribution of emotional intelligence in adaptation to college life.