Emotional Purity among University Students in Light of Selected Variables

Abstract

The study aimed to measure emotional purity, as well as to explore differences in it according to the variables of gender (male–female), academic level (first–fourth year), and field of specialization (scientific–humanities). The study adopted the descriptive-analytical method. The study instrument, a validated Emotional Purity Scale, was applied to a stratified random sample of 300 male and female students from the University of Baghdad. The results indicated that university students generally possess emotional purity. They also revealed significant differences in emotional purity attributed to gender in favor of females, to academic specialization in favor of humanities students, and to academic level in favor of fourth-year students. These findings were interpreted in light of the theoretical framework linking emotional purity to a set of psychological theories. The study concluded with a number of practical recommendations and proposals applicable in the university context, including integrating emotional purity concepts into existing curricula by adding short activities (10–15 minutes) at the end of each lecture to help students identify and label their emotions. It also recommended activating the role of educational counselors in colleges by training them to implement simple group counseling sessions focused on managing academic emotions. The originality of this study lies in its examination of emotional purity as a relatively recent psychological concept in the Arab university context, as well as in the use of a validated and culturally adapted scale, contributing to bridging a research gap in this field.