Impact of Emotional Intelligence on Self-Concept and Self-Efficacy among Preservice Early Childhood Teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the emotional intelligence of preservice early childhood teachers on their self-concept and self-efficacy in an attempt to provide some information on the development of the emotional intelligence of preservice early childhood teachers. The subjects in this study were the freshmen, sophomores and juniors who were in the departments of early childhood education in private colleges and universities in Chungcheong, Kyonggi, Seoul, in Korea. After a survey was conducted, the following findings were given: First, the juniors had the best self-concept of the others, and the freshmen were ahead of the others in self-efficacy. The university students had a better self-concept than the college students. Second, emotional intelligence had a statistically significant positive correlation to self-concept and self-efficacy. Third, all the sub-factors of emotional intelligence exerted a statistically significant positive influence on self-concept. Among the sub-factors of emotional intelligence, emotional regulation and emotional utilization exerted a statistically significant positive influence on self-efficacy. The findings of the study illustrated that the preservice early childhood teachers had a better self-concept and a better self-efficacy when the