Authors: Jawaher Abu Hamada, Fadwa Halabiyah
The study aimed to investigate the impact of emotional self-awareness on positive thinking among Palestinian university students. The study approached the literature as a multi-dimensional phenomenon, which addressed both theoretical and applied research. The significance of this recent study is the first, which dealt with this theme, to the authors’ knowledge, which in turn encourages other researchers to work on further research on this important issue.
The study adopted the quantitative research approach using the sampling survey method. The questionnaire is appropriate for the exploratory nature of the research. A 40-item questionnaire was formulated which was divided into three sub-scales as follows: the general information of the participants; the second section dealt with emotional self-awareness scale (15 items); and the third section included positive thinking scale (25 items). The random stratified method was utilized which comprised of a sample size of (300) male and female students of Palestinian university students at Birzeit, Al-Quds, and Isteqlal universities. The sample size was calculated using the sampling web, http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm, sample size calculator, with a margin error of 0.05. The collected data was statistically analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 23).
The findings revealed that Palestinian university students experienced a high level of emotional self-awareness and positive thinking. The mean scores and standard deviation were (M 3.86 SD 0.57; M 3.93 SD 0.55) respectively. The study revealed the determinant effect of emotional self-awareness on increasing positive thinking among Palestinian university students. It was found that when emotional self-awareness increases, positive thinking increases and vice versa.
The findings of the study revealed significant statistical differences in positive thinking among the Palestinian university students due to gender, and the university. However, no statistical significant differences were found in the rest of the study variables that are, academic year, and the faculty. Additionally, no statistical significant differences were found in emotional self-awareness according to the demographic breakdown of the participants.
These findings confirm the value of emotional self-awareness in innovative positive thinking among Palestinian university students, and recommend the need for continuing to implement workshops and applied training programs within universities that focus on developing students' emotional self-awareness and positive thinking skills; and further research is essential in the area of emotional self-awareness and positive thinking using the qualitative research design.
Keywords: Emotional self-awareness, Positive thinking, Palestinian university students.
Jawaher Abu Hamada, MA. Psychological Counselling, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Quds University, Main Campus, Jerusalem- Abu Dies, Palestine. Independent Researcher, Jericho, Palestine. Email:
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Fadwa Halabiyah, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Educational Sciences, Al-Quds University, Jerusalem, Palestine. Email:
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