Abstract
Purpose. This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, ethnicity, gender, generational status, leadership, and academic performance for White and Latina/o students at two institutions of higher education. Theoretical Framework. The study utilized the ability based model of emotional intelligence (EI) and examined its relationship to the educational success and leadership involvement of college students. Methodology. Participants were a convenience sample of 253 White (43) and Latina/o (121) and other (89) students from two higher education institutions (one community college, and one 4-year private university). Two instruments were used: the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) to measure emotional intelligence, and the Leadership Engagement Instrument (LEI), specifically developed for this study, to measure actual levels of leadership engagement. The MSCEIT measures the seven EI factors. GPA was used to measure academic success. The LEI measures leadership engagement in terms of actual involvement, duration of involvement, level of involvement, and path to involvement. Findings and Conclusion. The relationships between the variables were examined separately for each campus. For the community college, there were no main effects and interaction of ethnicity and gender for the seven EI scores. For the 4-year private university, there was a significant main effect of ethnicity on the branch of perceiving and identifying emotions, with White students scoring higher. There was significant positive correlation for Whites between GPA and EI at the 4-year university in the branch score of Perceiving and Identifying Emotions. There was a significant positive correlation with leadership for the community college in the strategic area, and the branch score of managing emotions. GPA and EI were correlated for Latina/os at the community college with the strategic area, and managing emotions, and at the 4-year university with the Total EI score, and the strategic area. Recommendations. Teach EI to children so they can benefit from what are proven outcomes for individuals with high EI. There is a need to further understand how gender, ethnicity, first-generation, immigration, and socioeconomic status impact EI.