Does gender predict emotional intelligence among adolescents?

Abstract

This study seeks to answer this question: Does gender predict emotional intelligence among adolescents? There were 300 study participants by random sampling.

Of the 300 respondents, 166 (55%) were females and 134 (45%) were males. The average age of respondents was 19.10 years (SD = 1.956). Emotional intelligence is defined from the standpoint of the Mayer and Salovey EI model: as the ability to  “perceive emotions, to access and generate emotions so as to assist thought, to understand emotions and emotional meanings, and to reflectively regulate emotions to promote both better emotion and thought” (Mayer & Salovey,1997, p. 5). The trait meta-mood scale was the first assessment measure developed by the authors who first identified the EI construct. The TMMS was designed to measure individual differences in the processes of emotional regulation, which includes emotional awareness that further involves monitoring, evaluation, and management of feelings. For total EI score, female respondents (n = 166) obtained mean score of 87.64 (SD = 8.87), whereas male respondents (n = 134) obtained a mean score of 87.37 (SD = 9.38).  For EI subscale emotional attention, females obtained a mean score of 44.67 (SD = 5.68); whereas males obtained a mean score of 43.51 (SD = 6.29). For subscale emotional clarity, females obtained a mean score of 24.20 (SD = 3.85), whereas males obtained a mean score of 25.77 (SD = 3.96). For subscale emotional repair, females obtained a mean score of 15.68 (SD = 2.62), whereas males obtained a mean score of 15.28 (SD = 2.64) .

To test if gender significantly predicts the level of emotional intelligence of college respondents, multiple regression analysis was used. The results of the regression indicate that gender does not explain any of the variance in emotional intelligence (R2=.000, F(1,298) =.070, p =.792). Gender does not significantly predict emotional intelligence among adolescents (β = -.015, p = .525).

Emotional intelligence is a concept rooted in Thorndike’s 1937 social intelligence which refers to one’s ability to understand and deal with other people and to engage in meaningful, adaptive interaction with them (Thorndike, 1920, as cited in Zeidner et al., 2009). This is thought to be the individual’s ability to process and utilize emotional information related to key areas of effective functioning in everyday life (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). It is a combination of factors that is found to be related  to motivation (Christie, Jordan, Troth, Lawrence, 2007); impulse control (Tice, Bratslavsky, & Baumeister, 2001); mood regulation (Gohm) 2003 and the ability to persist in the face of frustration (Yoo & Salovey, 2008). Evidence reveals that emotional