The Relationship Between Self-Esteem and Emotional Competence in a Sample of Nurses in Croatia

Aim. The goals of this research were to investigatethe levels of self-esteem in nurses and to evaluatethe relationship between sociodemographic factors,job related variables, and emotional competence influenceand self-esteem.Methods. A total of 306 nurses participated in theresearch, the majority of whom were female (285,93.1%). Most respondents were aged between 35and 44 (98, 32%), held higher education degrees(150, 49%), and had 26 or more years of work experience(81, 26.5%). Additionally, a significant portionwere not in management positions (249, 81.4%), andnearly half worked in shifts (140, 45.8%). This researchutilized the sociodemographic questionnairecreated for these purposes, The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSS) and The Emotional CompetenceQuestionnaire (UEK-15).Results. The results showed that significantly morerespondents have high self-esteem, 254 of them(83%) (p<0,001). In order to determine the predictorsof self-esteem, a linear regression analysis wasperformed. The results showed that the mentionedvariables significantly explain 36,9% of the variancein self-esteem (Adjusted R2=0,369, p<0.001).The variables which included emotional competence(p<0.001), professional qualifications (p=0.017) andlength of service (p=0.019) were found to be significant.Looking at the β coefficient, it is clear that allof the above variables contribute positively to selfesteemin nurses.Conclusion. It has been shown that a significantlyhigher number of nurses exhibit high self-esteem.Furthermore, it was shown that emotional competenceis a predictor of self-esteem in nurses, whileamong the examined sociodemographic variables,the level of education and duration of employmentare important indicators as well.