Validation of the Slovenian adaptation of situational tests of emotional understanding and emotion management

Zanimanje za kvaliteten test, ki meri čustveno inteligentnost je veliko. Namen pričujoče magistrske naloge je bil preveriti psihometrične značilnosti dveh novonastalih mer čustvene inteligentnosti kot sposobnosti, to sta Situacijski test razumevanja čustev (STEU) in Situacijski test uravnavanja čustev (STEM). Preverjali smo ustreznost parametrov nalog, zanesljivost testov, strukturo testov in konstruktno veljavnost testov. V ta namen smo izvedli preliminarno raziskavo, fokusno skupino in glavno raziskavo. V glavni raziskavi je sodelovalo 541 študentov (93,9 % žensk in 5,2 % moških) študijskih programov razredni pouk in predšolska vzgoja. Ob testih STEU in STEM smo uporabili še mero kristalizirane sposobnosti, alternativno mero prepoznavanja čustev, osebnostni vprašalnik, podatek o povprečni študijski oceni in za zagotavljanje triangulacije še oceno mentorja o čustveni sposobnosti študenta. Rezultati niso potrdili zanesljivosti in veljavnosti testov STEU in STEM. Problematični so bili predvsem koeficienti diskriminativnosti, zelo šibke korelacije, nizki koeficienti notranje skladnosti in neprimerna delitev strukture testov na več podlestvic. Po drugi strani pa so rezultati pokazali ustrezne indekse težavnosti nalog in nakazali povezanost s kristalizirano inteligentnostjo. Ugotovitve torej kažejo, da testa nista ustrezni meri razumevanja in uravnavanja čustev in da je za oblikovanje mere čustvene inteligentnosti kot sposobnosti potreben celosten in kompleksen pristop.The interest for a quality test which measures emotional intelligence is high. The aim of this master’s thesis was to examine the psychometric characteristics of two new measures of emotional intelligence as a mental abilitynamely, the Situational test of emotional understanding (STEU) and the Situational test of emotion management (STEM). Specifically, we examined the adequacy of item parameters, the test reliability, the test structure and the construct validity of the tests. For this purpose, we conducted a preliminary study, a focus group and the main study. 541 students (93,9 % females and 5,2 % males) from Elementary Education and Pre-school Education study programs participated in the main study. In addition to the STEU and the STEM test, we used a measure of crystallized ability, an alternative measure of emotion recognition, a personality questionnaire, grade point average and the mentors grading of emotional ability of students to provide triangulation. The results did not confirm the reliability and validity of the STEU and STEM tests. Problems arose with discrimination coefficients, very weak correlations, low coefficients of internal consistency and the inadequate test structure division into several subscales. However, the results showed appropriate indices of tasks difficulty and indicated a relationship with crystallized intelligence. Our finding therefore show that the two tests are not an appropriate measure of emotion understanding and management and that the creation of a measure for emotional intelligence as a mental ability requires a holistic and complex approach