Emotional Intelligence in Early Adolescence: Correlates of Emotion Management Abilities and the Prediction of School Achievement

The paper deals with age and gender differences in emotional intelligence (EI) during early adolescence and examines relationships among different branches of EI and measures of adaptive behavior. Three EI tests, as well as empathy and self-esteem questionnaires were applied in a sample of 133 higher-grade elementary school students. Students' school grades were also collected. Low to moderate correlations were found among EI measures. Empathy scores significantly correlated only with the Emotion Management Test scores. Multivariate analysis of variance showed gender differences in the set of EI variables with girls scoring higher on the examined branches of EI. Neither age nor gender by age interaction effects were proved by MANOVA. Hierarchical regression procedures proved an incremental contribution of the Emotional Analysis Test in explaining the variability of Emotion Management Test scores, and a significant role of these two tests in explaining students school achievement.