This was an analytical cross-sectional study, which took into account a universe of1 254 undergraduate graduates from a university of Manizales during the years 2012 and 2013. The instrument was sent to the entire population in digital format and included an informed consent form. Only 149 people (12%) responded despite explanatory and motivational emails.

The quantified variables were: academic program, sex, age, socioeconomic level, origin, place of residence, employment location, concordance between training received and current work demand, PQWL (CVP35 scale), EI (TMMS-24 scale), and stress coping type (CRIY scale).

The survey was responded by 149 graduates with an average age of 28 years: 63.1% were women, 39.6% were classified in socio-economic level 4 -middle class-, 60.4% were from Manizales, 55.1% resided in this city, 79.1 % studied during the day, 5 5.7% graduated in 2013, 15.5% were graduates from the Psychology program, and 88.6% worked; of the latter, 51.7% had a full-time job. When analyzing concordance between theoretical training and some variables, it was good for 37.6% regarding their work activity, good for 36.9% regarding the applied training, and excellent for 36.2% regarding personal training (Table 1).

Table 1

Source: Own elaboration.

Tables 2, 3 and 4 show the results for each of the instruments applied. Regarding internal consistency, the subscales of the CVP35 questionnaire had a Cronbach's α of0.930 in managerial support, 0.890 in workload perception and 0.883 in intrinsic motivation. Globally, this scale presented a Cronbach's α of 0.936.

Table 2

Source: Own elaboration.

Table 3

UL: upper limit; LL: lower limit.

Table 4

UL: upper limit; LL: lower limit.

In the TMMS-24 questionnaire, the overall consistency of the Cronbach's α was 0.940, with a subscale of perception of 0.944, a subscale of comprehension of 0.946, and regulation of 0.916. The questionnaire had a high internal consistency that guaranteed the validity of the results and suggested consistent responses from participants and not "random" responses.

The internal consistency of the CRI-Y coping scale was 0.868. This showed that avoidance strategies, whether behavioral or cognitive, tend to minimize the effects of the stressful situation, which may be beneficial to face transient stress, but not work tension, as concluded by several longitudinal studies. ³³

The level of EI comprehension subscale of the TMMS-24 questionnaire has a strong correlation with the CVP35 subscales workload (p = 0.016), managerial support (p = 0.025), and intrinsic motivation (p = 0.002). The correlation between the level of comprehension and intrinsic motivation is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Source: Own elaboration.

Strong correlations were also found between the EI subscale level of regulation and some subscales of the CVP35 questionnaire: managerial support (p=0.003) and intrinsic motivation (p=0.001). Figure 2 shows the correlation between these last two variables.

Figure 2 Source: Own elaboration.

The EI level of perception subscale only has a strong correlation (p=0.025) with the QWL subscale of the CVP35 questionnaire. Graduates with an adequate level of perception report 57.38% of QWL in the "a lot" category, figure that drops to 36.36% among those who should improve their perception.

Three of the CVP35 subscales are significantly correlated to the stress coping type (CRI-Y Questionnaire): managerial support (p=0.021 ), intrinsic motivation (p=0.000) and QWL (p=0.009). Figure 3 shows the variation in the perception of the Quality of life at work subscale of the CVP35 questionnaire with the stress coping type.

Figure 3 Source: Own elaboration.

The correlation between coping type and the three subscales of the TMMS-24 questionnaire, through χ², presents: perception level p=0.059, comprehension level p=0.027 and regulation level p=0.075. Figure 4 illustrates the correlation between coping type and level of comprehension (p=0.027). Coping through cognitive approach gradually increases from 57.14% in graduates who should improve their comprehension, to 68.57% in those who have excellent comprehension.

Figure 4 Source: Own elaboration.

The results show that the vast majority (88.6%) of respondents are employed -51.7% full-time-, which coincides with the figure of 80.7% of employment in university graduates according to the Observatorio laboral para la educación en Colombia (Colombian Labor Observatory for Education). ³⁴

QWL was perceived as "quite a lot" or "a lot" by 67.1 %; managerial support as "quite a lot" or "a lot" by 76.5%; workload as "quite a lot" or "a lot" by 64.4%; and intrinsic motivation as "quite a lot" or "a lot" by 93%.

Regarding EI, perception should improve for 59.1%; this influences the QWL, EI component that shows the most inadequate behavior. In addition, 71.8% and 77.2%, respectively, show a comprehension level and regulation level between adequate and to be improved. In relation to the CRI-Y scale for stress coping, 61.7% had adequate coping by cognitive approach.

The CVP35 questionnaire has been used especially for the health sector, in this research, graduates linked to this area constitute 14.2%of the population (Table 1). Garrido-Elustondo et al.³⁵, in a study with 1 003 primary care professionals in the Area 7 of Madrid, identified workload perception of 6.09, managerial support perception of 5.1, intrinsic motivation of 7.56, and PQWL of 5.45. In general, the results obtained in this research are better, evidencing an average QWL of 6.07, perception of managerial support of 6.42, and intrinsic motivation of 8.02. The perception of workload is lower in this research: 5.54.

Jubete-Vázquez et al.³⁶, in a study with 1 324 primary care professionals in Madrid, obtained the following scores: 4.66 in perception of QWL, 4.66 in perception of managerial support, 7.16 in intrinsic motivation, and 6.45 in perception of workload. Again, and in all dimensions, the present study obtained better results for QWL.

Fernández-Araque et al.¹¹ analyzed the QWL in 104 nursing professionals in Soria (Spain) using the CVP35 questionnaire and obtained scores of 5.68 in perception of the QWL, 7.85 in perception of intrinsic motivation, 4.9 in perception of managerial support, and 5.71 in average perception of workload. These values, with the exception of workload perception, are very similar to those obtained in this study.

Furthermore, Hernández-Armegond ³⁷, through the CVP35, analyzed the QWL of 56 nursing professionals from Teruel (Spain) and found a score of 6.75 for QWL perception, 7.85 for intrinsic motivation, 6.06 for managerial support, and 5.83 for workload, which are also similar to those obtained in this research.

Sosa-Cerda et al.³⁸ investigated the QWL through the CVP35 questionnaire in 311 nurses of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in San Luis Potosí (Mexico) and found a perception of "quite a lot" in 69% in the QWL domain, 62.1% of "quite a lot" in managerial support, 55.3% of "a lot" in intrinsic motivation and 56.9% of "some" in workload. This study found a perception of 45% in the category of "quite a lot" in QWL, 51.7% of "quite a lot" in managerial support, 63.1% of "a lot" in intrinsic motivation and 53% of "quite a lot" in workload, values that in some cases are lower and in others higher than those obtained in the aforementioned study.

Puello-Viloria et al.³⁹ described the perception of QWL through the CVP35 questionnaire with 34 nursing workers in Santa Marta (Colombia) and obtained a score of 4.3 in perception of managerial support, 6.7 of intrinsic motivation and 4.4 of workload. In this study, forthese dimensions, values of6.42,8.02 and 5.54, respectively, were obtained; these are better scores than those reported in the previous study, although they show greater perception of workload.

Consequently, it can be concluded that the values obtained in this research for the perception of QWL, in general, are similar to those obtained in other population studies in which the CVP35 questionnaire was used.

Regarding this same questionnaire, Sánchez-González et al.⁴⁰ and Fernández-Araque et al.¹¹ found that intrinsic motivation and managerial support increase PQWL. Similarly, Albaneside Nasetta ⁴¹ researched PQWL in health workers and concluded that support from superiors promotes good performance and quality of average life.

Only one study, Contreras et al.⁴², estimated the internal consistency (Cronbach's a) of the CVP35 questionnaire; it was carried out on 38 employees of a cancer center in Bogotá (Colombia). The a estimated for the subscales of the questionnaire were as follows: managerial support: 0.92; workload: 0.762; intrinsic motivation: 0.792; and overall: 0.893. In this study, the a calculated are 0.930, 0.890,0.883 and 0.936, respectively, higher scores than those reported by Contreras et al.⁴² These values mean that the questionnaires were responded adequately by the participants and the data obtained are very reliable. The values found in the Contreras et al.⁴² study for the subscales were, in the same order, 5.37, 5.42 and 7.31 ; in this, research the values were higher in the subscales managerial support and intrinsic motivation, and lower in workload. In conclusion, the population participating in this study has a better perception of QWL in general.

Salvador-Ferrer ⁴³ was the only study found that estimated a for the TMMS-24 questionnaire; its results were: perception 0.872, comprehension 0.779, and regulation 0.846, values that in the present study were 0.944, 0.946 and 0.916, respectively. In said study, the value obtained for the subscales of the TMMS-24 were, in the same order, 26.9, 25.43 and 27.08, which in the present work were 24.97, 28.42 and 29.32, respectively.

Emotional skills are related to leadership at the professional level, better teamwork skills and job satisfaction. The opposite situation, associated with poor management of emotional skills, affects health in general, as it has greater impact on professional attrition and generates greater stress, lower self-esteem and depressive components, as referred to by the state of the art on research with students of nursing by Espinoza-Venegas et al.²⁶

The results of this study confirm these findings in several ways: graduates with high scores in the three subscales of the TMMS-24 questionnaire (levels of perception, comprehension and regulation) also have good scores in the QWL, as shown in Figures 1 and 2.

This correlation between EI and work performance can be synthesized as follows: the higher the emotional intelligence, the better the work performance; this result was also obtained by Enríquez-Argoti et al.⁴⁴ Furthermore, Castaño-Castrillón & Páez-Cala ⁴⁵ found a significant correlation between EI and academic performance in undergraduate students of the Universidad de Manizales (Colombia).

Other studies also identified a positive correlation between EI and QWL variables. For example, Tagoe & Quarshie ⁴⁶, in a study with 120 nurses in Ghana, found a significant positive correlation between EI and job satisfaction, although this was not confirmed from a gender perspective; Ravikumar et al.⁴⁷ investigated EI on 200 postgraduate medical students in Delhi (India) and found a positive correlation with perceived workload; finally, Yamani et al.⁴⁸ conducted a study with 202 members of the Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Isfahan (Iran) to measure their EI and work stress, and found that those with high EI had lower work stress.

In the present study, there is a significant correlation between stress CS and QWL, as shown in Figure 3. In this regard, Peña ⁴⁹ tried to correlate QWL and stress CS in 46 employees of the private security services sector in Maracaibo (Venezuela), but found no significant correlation.

In the present study, a correlation was found between EI and CS: those with higher EI tend to face stress by cognitive approximation. Peiró & Rodríguez ¹⁹, Amutio-Kareaga ²¹, Srivastaga ⁵⁰, Sy & Cote (51) and King & Gardner ⁵² also confirmed a positive association between EI and CS; Gómez-Coello ⁵³ confirmed the association between EI and attitude towards change.

The difficulty of collecting the required sample was the main limitation of this study; for this reason, the results cannot be considered as representative of the graduate population of this university. Another limitation was the difficulty of conducting a research based on a survey and the reliability of the results, but the high values of the internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach's α) obtained in the employee questionnaires suggest that the participants responded conscientiously.

This study confirms the relevance of EI in the perception of QWL in the different professional activities carried out by recent university graduates. It also has a positive influence on CS in an increasingly stressful modern world, particularly for young professionals.

Despite the high perceived workload, graduates report managerial support, which contributes to intrinsic motivation and influences regulation, associated with effective management of positive and negative emotions. The QWL is influenced by perception as the ability to consciously differentiate one's emotions and recognize one's feelings.

Comprehension (cognitive-affective integration and assessment of the complexity of changes) is strengthened by identifying managerial support; thus, there is intrinsic motivation and high workload.

The relatively high level of adequate coping by cognitive approximation implies restructuring the meaning assigned to the event to involve a novel assessment that enables a positive emphasis; it is an active attitude, not passive or avoidant. The findings reported here suggest the relevance of perceiving managerial support, in this case, through regulation associated with the effective management of emotions, both positive and negative.

In university life, more importance should be given to EI, a relevant task of the student support units. In other words, comprehensive training in university students requires the inclusion of emotional competences in the different curricula in order to counteract the negative effects of work stress on their physical and emotional health, and this way to improve their perception of QWL in order to have a better work performance and a higher productivity when they enter the labor market.