Predictive Effects of Neuroticism and Emotional Intelligence on Bullying Behavior Among Male College Students

Introduction: School bullying is one of the most prevalent issues facing school personnel today and the threat of this behaviour to a safe school environment. Objectives: The study was designed to examine the predictive effects of neuroticism and emotional intelligence on the bullying behavior of students. Materials and Methods: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The study participants consisted of 130 randomly-selected students from a college that is predominantly for boys in Ondo State, Nigeria. Three standardized scales were used to obtain data from the participants. Then, Pearson product-moment correlation, and multiple regression analysis were used to analyse the data collected, by SPSS V. 25 and AMOS V. 24. Results: Three research hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result revealed a significant relationship between neuroticism, emotional intelligence and bullying behavior among college students. Neuroticism and emotional intelligence accounted for 25% of the variation of bullying behavior and contributed significantly to the prediction. Conclusion: Based on these findings, school counsellors and psychologists are recommended to assist in training students who score high on neuroticism and help them understand and manage their personality type effectively without posing threats to others.