The predictive effect of adolescent emotional intelligence, IQ and gender for academic achievement: A study of the Victorian Certificate of Education

© 2016 Dr Maree Jean Elizabeth RyanObjective: This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic achievement in the adolescent population. The term adolescent emotional intelligence (AEI) was introduced to delineate the unique biopsychosocial development and growth that occurs in adolescence as it may impact on the construct of emotional intelligence (EI), which is developmentally differentiated from that of childhood and adulthood. Few researcher studies have analysed the individual differences in the effect of AEI in academic achievement in secondary school students. Hence, this study sought to investigate the simultaneous predictive effect of AEI, IQ and gender in adolescents completing their final year of secondary school. Methodology: Australia, as a member country of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), was selected for this study. Four secondary schools located in Victoria took part in the study. The Year 12 students in the study (n = 224males, n = 145females) were 16 to 18 years of age (N = 369). The Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (Adolescent Version) provided a trait EI measure of AEI. The Raven’s Standard Progressive Matrices provided a measure of fluid intelligence, which was operationalised as the Intelligence Quotient (IQ). The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) percentile rank score stipulated a national standardised measure of academic achievement. The simultaneous predictive effects of AEI, IQ and gender for VCE academic achievement were investigated using a saturated regression model. Results: Analysis of AEI and the four AEI traits resulted in five regression models, predicting 26 to 29% of VCE academic achievement. The positive predictive effect of AEI in academic achievement accounted for a VCE percentile rank score of 4.13 points per standard deviation. Further, analysis of the AEI trait regression models identified a main effect for the interaction between gender and emotions direct cognition. Decomposition of the regression equations in IQ and gender combination groups found the effects of AEI and AEI traits for VCE academic achievement were heterogeneous, subject to developmental differences in the IQ and gender combination groups. Therefore, the predictive effect of AEI was dynamically and adaptively utilised by Year 12 students in their VCE academic achievement, subject to individual differences in adolescent AEI, IQ and gender