Emotional intelligence, self-esteem and gender as correlate of secondary school students’ academic achievement in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study investigated emotional intelligence, self-esteem and gender as correlate of secondary school students’ academic achievement in Anambra State. Three research questions and two null hypotheses tested at 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The study was carried out in Onitsha, and Awka education zones of Anambra State, Nigeria. The design adopted for this study was correlational research designs. The population of the study comprised all the year two senior secondary school (SSS2) students in the 263 public secondary schools in Anambra state. The sample for the study consists of 1,028 students obtained through non-proportionate stratified random sampling technique from 18 secondary schools in Onitsha, and Awka education zones. The instruments for data collection include a structured questionnaire that was used to collect data on the student’s emotional intelligence called Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (EIQ), a Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) and Mathematics and English Language Achievement Test (MEAT). The instrument was face and content validated by two experts. The research questions were analysed using Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (Pearson r) while hypothesis was tested using multiple regression. Results of the research showed that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence, self-esteem and gender with academic achievement of secondary school students in mathematics and English language. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations were made. One of the recommendations is that government should organize seminar and workshop for teachers to enable them to understand the concepts of emotional intelligence and self-esteem in order to build their own emotions and that oftheir students.