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ABSTRACT
Psycho-educational researchers have often suggested that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is critical to academic success (Drago, 2004; La Civita, 2003), yet there is hardly any research that has ever addressed the question in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between EI as conceptualized by Mayer and Salovey (1997) and academic success of undergraduate students in UAE universities. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was used to measure EI, and Grade Point Average (GPA) scores were utilized to assess academic success. Two hundred and four university students (71 males and 133 females) participated in the study. The results of the correlational analysis revealed that academic success was not related to EI. However, the findings indicated a positive correlation between EI and perceived academic success.
INTRODUCTION
Psychological and educational researchers have always shown a significant interest in the question of what predicts academic success. Today in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), it is a question more crucial than ever, considering the context of rapid development and the subsequent demands of an academically successful Emirati workforce. The relevance of this question becomes all the more obvious when one takes into account the nation's efforts to tackle the issues of academic disengagement and failure, unemployment due to poor scholastic results, university dropout.
Traditionally, most researchers attempting to answer the question of what predicts academic success have focused on cognitive predictors, and a majority of them emphasized intelligence quotient (IQ) as an important predictor of academic success. However, the evidence for non-cognitive or psycho-social factors, such as personality traits, social skills, emotional competencies, and similar individual differences, that influence academic achievement has been on the increase of late. Among these important non-cognitive factors impacting academic achievement is the widely accepted construct of Emotional Intelligence (EI). The concept gained popularity and became the subject of many psycho-educational studies when researchers worldwide recognized that the use of conventional concepts of intelligence alone could no longer predict academic success.
Given the potential importance of EI in predicting academic success and the increasing emphasis on realizing optimal academic achievement in UAE, comprehensive research into the role of emotional intelligence in the academic achievement of Emirati students is vital. However, not many research attempts...