Predicting effect of emotional-social intelligence on academic achievement of nursing students

Background. Academic achievement refers to the extent to which a learner, instructor or institution has accomplished their short- or long-term educational goals. There are inconclusive results about the individual factors that successfully predict academic performance. Emotional intelligence has been a popular topic in the field of higher educational learning. Several research reports have shown that emotional intelligence is one of the factors that successfully predicts students' academic achievement. Objectives. To examine the relationship between emotional-social intelligence (ESI) and self-reported academic achievement among nursing students. Methods. A descriptive-comparative approach was used. The study was carried out on 127 nursing students from different academic levels. The study used two tools, namely an ESI questionnaire and an academic achievement scale. Results. The females had statistically significant higher means than the males in their scores on the ESI questionnaire (p=0.042) and interpersonal competencies (p=0.003). There were positive correlations between ESI score, its five components and students' self-reported academic achievement. Conclusion. The outcome of this study suggests that educational planners and academicians should embrace emotional intelligence-developing courses at college and university levels.