Emotional intelligence and gender differences: a study among the youth in Bangalore City, India

Emotional Intelligence (EI) plays a significant role in a person’s academic, professional and personal success. Youth, who are at the verge of entry into their professional lives, need to cultivate their EI that has now become the most essential skill for survival in an organisation along with the job-specific technical competencies. The aim of this study was to assess the EI among the youth of Bangalore city. The sample comprised 800 youth in the age group of 18 to 24 years, consisting 333 boys and 467 girls. Results revealed that overall EI among the youth was higher (115.90±30.91) than the normal range (68±16). Though the boys had slightly higher scores (116.92±31.45) than the girls (115.17±30.54), the difference was statically not significant. This may be due to similar socio-demographic background (family structure, religion, economic groups), up-bringing in urban areas and/or forward-looking culture in the region. With respect to age groups, mean difference was highly significant where older age group (22-24 years) had higher mean score (127.74±23.309) of EI than the younger (18-20 years) age group (72.95±20.589),confirming that EI develops with age