Emotional Intelligence in University Students: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Emotional intelligence is referred to as an individual’s ability to perceive, understand their own and others’ emotions and to regulate them effectively. It is helpful to new college students as well as old ones. It can help them to face adjustment issues, identity issues, workload, maintaining relationships, work pressure, career-related issues, managing personal and social life, etc. This study aims to compare the emotional intelligence between undergraduate and postgraduate students and the two genders (males and females). The hypothesis is assumed to be a significant difference between them. For this, the data was collected from a sample of 120 young adults aged 19-25 years, thirty of each gender (male and female) at undergraduate and postgraduate levels from Amity University, Lucknow Campus, using a stratified sampling method. The questionnaire implemented on the sample was a Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale (BEIS-10) consisting of 10 items. The responses were gathered by approaching students on the campus. The data was organized in an Excel file and analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 20. Descriptive statistics and t-test were administered on the collected data. Findings indicated no significant difference between undergraduate and postgraduate students, although postgraduate students had a slightly higher mean than undergraduate students. Between males and females, again no significant difference was found. In the undergraduate sample, males had a slightly higher mean, and in the postgraduate sample, females had a slightly higher mean. These findings suggest that gender, age, and academic experience do not necessarily play a role in increasing emotional intelligence.