Investigation of the Level of Secondary School Students’ Emotional Intelligence in Terms of Different Variables

Abstract

According to the existing research, emotional intelligence includes skills that can be developed. In many studies conducted in the literature, it is emphasized that emotional intelligence skills are not stable rather continuously change and develop. In the current study, it is aimed to investigate the level of secondary school students’ emotional intelligence (11-14 years old) in terms of different variables (gender, grade level, parents’ education level, the extent to which their parents care about their feelings, the frequency of reading book, the length of time spent on the phone or computer, person(s) or the environment playing the most important role in the growth of the individual, experiencing difficulty or not in making friends). The current study is designed in the descriptive survey model. The study group is comprised of a total of 920 students (483 females, 437 males) attending different state schools in the city of Denizli in the spring term of the 2018-2019 school year. As the data collection tools, “The BarOn Emotional Intelligence Scale (Child and Adolescent Form) and a “Personal Information Form” were used in the current study. The collected data were analyzed in SPSS 22.0 program package. The data were analyzed by using Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA). As a result of the research, it was found that secondary school students’ emotional intelligence levels significantly vary depending on the variables such as grade level, the extent to which their parents care about their feelings, the frequency of reading book, the length of time spent on the phone or computer, person(s) or environment playing the most important role in their growth, father’s education level and experiencing difficulty or not in making friends. However, no significant difference was found in the students’ levels of emotional intelligence based on gender and mother’s education level.