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 EI have been proposed there is still controversy about how EI should be conceptualised and measured. It is agreed, however, that EI’s relevance depends on it being able to predict significant life outcomes. A study of 246 predominantly first-year tertiary students investigated relationships between EI and a number of ‘life skills’ (academic achievement, life satisfaction, anxiety, problem-solving and coping). Correlations between EI and academic achievement were small and not statistically significant, although higher EI 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 EI and life skills was 6% or less.