Emotional intelligence, students' attitudes towards life and the attainment of education goals: An exploratory study in Hong Kong

Emotional Intelligence has been a hot topic for both parents and educators in Hong Kong in recent years. Conceptually, emotional intelligence should be related to students’ life satisfaction, positive attitudes towards life, and the attainment of various education goals. However, despite its growing popularity, there is relatively little empirical evidence showing these relationships. The purpose of the present study is to provide some empirical evidence to examine these effects in Hong Kong. A group of 30 university students helped generate emotional intelligence items and 20 of these items were selected empirically from the responses of another 100 university students. Then a sample of 225 six formers completed a questionnaire which measured their perceived emotional intelligence, life satisfaction, and powerlessness in their lives. Their form masters evaluated their performance in moral and social development. Attainment in intellectual education of these students was estimated by their HKCEE results. As expected, results indicated that emotional intelligence is positively related to life satisfaction, and performance in moral, social and intellectual development. It is also negatively related to powerlessness in life. Limitations for this study and implications for future emotional intelligence research are discussed. Copyright © 2001 New Horizons in Education.