Graduation Year

2025

Document Type

Senior Thesis

Degree

Bachelor of Arts

Primary Major

Psychology

Primary Minor

Clinical and Counseling Science

Second Minor

Community Action and Social Change

Thesis Advisor

Veronica Fruiht, PhD

Abstract

As bilingualism exposes individuals to different linguistic cultures, it has demonstrated to increase emotional experiences and improve emotional competency (Alqarni & Dewaele, 2020). College students who report higher EQ benefit from higher levels of friendship quality (Gündüz, 2019). However, racially marginalized college students, who are more likely to be bilingual, also experience additional barriers including impostor phenomenon (IP; Cokley et al., 2017). The goal of this study is to determine if college students who are bilingual will have higher EQ and friendship satisfaction and be better protected against IP than college students who are English monolinguals. A total of 78 college students were recruited for the study with 35 bilinguals and 43 monolinguals. The participants completed the Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (Schutte et al., 1998), Short Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (Wang et al., 2022), Friendship Network Satisfaction Scale (Kaufman et al., 2022), and a demographics questionnaire including questions on bilingual proficiency and languages spoken. The results depicted no significant difference in EQ levels. Monolingual college students reported significantly higher friendship satisfaction compared to bilingual college students. Participants reporting higher friendship satisfaction did not report being less negatively impacted by IP experiences. However, the results demonstrated that higher EQ levels created a buffer against IP. By prioritizing the development of EQ, college students can benefit from creating meaningful and satisfying friendship networks and more easily recognize the negative emotions stirred by IP.

Download

Share

COinS