Emotional intelligence predicts life skills, but not as well as personality and cognitive abilities

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is held to explain how emotions advance life goals. While different theories of El have been proposed there is still controversy about how El should be conceptualised and measured. It is agreed, however, that El's relevance depends on it being able to predict significant life outcomes. A study of 246 predominantly first-year tertiary students investigated relationships between El and a number of 'life skills' (academic achievement, life satisfaction, anxiety, problem-solving and coping). Correlations between El and academic achievement were small and not statistically significant, although higher El was correlated with higher life satisfaction, better perceived problem-solving and coping ability and lower anxiety. However, after controlling for the influence of personality and cognitive abilities, shared variance between El and life skills was 6% or less. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.