The purpose of this study was to determine if the emotional intelligence of gifted adolescents contributes significantly to their social and academic success, and specifically if emotional intelligence was of importance above and beyond traditional psychometric intelligence (IQ). This study tested the claims of Goleman (1995) who argued that emotional intelligence was critical to our understanding of human success, and often times more important than IQ. A group of 39 adolescents (mean age = 16 years 6 months) who were enrolled in a residential high school for gifted youths participated.The Adolescent Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (AMEIS) (Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso, 1996) and the Test of Cognitive Skills (2nd ed.) (CTB MacMillan/McGraw-Hill, 1993) were utilized to attain overall levels of emotional intelligence and IQ, respectively. The Behavior Assessment System for Children - Self-Report - Adolescent Version (BASC-SRP-A) (Reynolds & Kamphaus, 1992) was used to measure two types of social success: interpersonal relations and social stress. Academic success was determined by student grade point averages.The results of hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that emotional intelligence did not contribute significantly to the social and academic success for these gifted adolescents. These results suggest that Goleman's argument about the significance of emotional intelligence may be overstated, at least when studying this sample of gifted adolescents. However, future research will need to address the need for improved measurement of emotional intelligence, possibly studying specific components of emotional intelligence. Larger samples that include gifted students from more common settings may also help clarify the importance of emotional intelligence in this population. / Department of Educational Psychology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BSU/oai:cardinalscholar.bsu.edu:handle/182069 |
| Date | January 2000 |
| Creators | Woitaszewski, Scott Allan |
| Contributors | Gridley, Betty E. |
| Source Sets | Ball State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Format | viii, 92 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. |
| Source | Virtual Press |
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