The Relationship between Social Intelligence and Empathy in Students of Ukrainian Universities during Martial Law

The study presents the relationships between components of social intelligence and empathy in 240 students at Ukrainian universities during martial law. Statistically significant relationships were identified between the first, third, and fourth components of social intelligence and empathy in university students. The inverse and strong relationship between respondents’ ability to understand the life situations of others and empathy suggests that excessive sensitivity to the emotional needs of others may hinder this ability. However, students correctly interpret others’ emotions based on facial expressions and can attune to their emotions. The inverse and fairly strong relationship between students’ ability to understand manifestations of verbal behavioral expression and empathy indicates that this ability is not dependent on their sensitivity to the emotional needs of others or their ability to understand even hidden emotions. The direct and fairly strong relationship between students’ ability to predict others’ behavior and empathy demonstrates that this ability depends on their accuracy in understanding even hidden emotions and communicative cues related to the emotional needs of others, recognizing emotions through facial expressions, and sensitivity to others’ emotional needs. During martial law, components of social intelligence (the ability to understand the life situations of others, the ability to interpret verbal behavioral expression, and the ability to predict others’ behavior) are statistically significantly related to empathy in students at Ukrainian universities.