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

Rad se bavi spolnim i dobnim razlikama u sposobnostima emocionalne inteligencije (EI) tijekom rane adolescencije te odnosima mjera različitih razina EI i pokazatelja adaptivnoga ponašanja. Na uzorku od 133 učenika viših razreda osnovne škole primijenjena su tri testa emocionalne inteligencije, upitnici empatije i samopoštovanja te su prikupljeni podaci o školskim ocjenama sudionika. Dobivene su niske do umjereno visoke korelacije među primijenjenim mjerama EI. Rezultati na Upitniku empatije značajno su povezani samo s rezultatima u Testu upravljanja emocijama. Multivarijatnom analizom varijance potvrđene su spolne, ali ne i dobne razlike u prostoru primijenjenih varijabli EI, pri čemu djevojčice postižu više rezultate na mjerama ispitanih razina emocionalne inteligencije. Hijerarhijskim regresijskim postupcima potvrđen je značajan aditivni doprinos Testa analize emocija u objašnjenju varijance Testa upravljanja emocijama, kao i značajna uloga ovih testova u objašnjenju varijance školskog uspjeha učenika.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\u27 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\u27 school achievement