Emotional Intelligence, Self-Efficacy, and Test Performance

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the interrelationships between emotional intelligence, self-efficacy, and test performance. The study consisted of 91 Ontario residents aged 18 to 48 (the mean age being 22.78); only 69 of these individuals completed all measures. Participants completed six primary measurement instruments: one measurement of emotional intelligence, three measures of self-efficacy (overall academics, math specific, and literacy specific), a mathematics test, and a literacy test. Four primary hypotheses were tested: (1) there would be a significant relationship between test performance and emotional intelligence; (2) test performance would be related to academic self-efficacy as well as to the respective subject-specific self-efficacy scores; (3) there would be a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy; and (4) those with higher emotional intelligence scores would rate their subject-specific self-efficacy in alignment with their test performance. Emotional intelligence was positively correlated with all three measures of self-efficacy. Literacy test performance was positively correlated with academic self-efficacy, whilst mathematics test performance was positively correlated with math specific self-efficacy. It was also discovered that those with average emotional intelligence scores rated their mathematics specific self-efficacy and academic self-efficacy in alignment with their test performance, whilst those with higher and lower emotional intelligence scores showed greater discrepancies between their self-efficacy and test performance.