Do Spirituality, Personality Traits and Gender Predict Emotional Intelligence among Undergraduates?

Abstract

This study examined Spirituality, Personality traits, Gender as predictors of emotional intelligence among undergraduate students in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra. A total of 300 participants comprising 52 males and 148 females were involved in the study. Their ages ranged from 16 to 29 years, with the mean of 20.43 and standard deviation of 2.21. Standardized self report measures of Spirituality, Personality traits and Emotional Intelligence were adopted for data gathering. Spiritual Orientation Scale in (SOS) by Umeaku and Chibueze (2024) is a brief instrument with two domains (internal and external spiritual orientation); Ten- Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) by Gosling et al (2003) is a brief personality measure with five domains (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and emotional stability); Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) by Schutte et al (1998) measures emotional intelligence. Survey design was utilized, and Multiple Linear Regression Analysis was adopted for hypotheses testing. Three hypotheses were adopted for the study. The results of the study show that spirituality and personality predicted emotional intelligence, while gender did not predict. Hypothesis one which stated that Spirituality will predict emotional intelligence was accepted at t (2.106), p<.036. The second hypothesis which stated that Personality will predict emotional intelligence was accepted at t (2.357), p<.019. The third hypothesis which stated that Gender will predict emotional intelligence was rejected at t (.188), p< .851. Based on findings, recommendations were made; research efforts should focus on emotional intelligence to find out the various variables influencing, deteriorating and enhancing it.