RELATIONSHIP OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND MINDFULNESS WITH STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AT HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Abstract

The study intended to find out the relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI), Mindfulness (M), and grades of higher secondary students. Many researchers had been investigating grades of students in relation to EI and M; but the evidence for and against the thesis were strong enough; and, therefore, it remained a provocative issue for the curious researchers yet to be resolved. The rationale of the paper resides in the need of improving our understanding on the connection between EI, M and grades of adolescents, especially in countries where the school dropout rate of adolescents is reported high. Basic purpose was to check association between EI, M and grades. Initially two questionnaires were adopted to measure student’s EI and M separately. The first instrument was Schutte Self Report Inventory (SSRI) adapted by Schutte et al., (1998). The SSRI Schutte et al, (1998) had 33-items, self-report measures on the bases of Salovey and Mayer (1990) theory of “EI”. While the second one was a Mindfulness scale Mindfulness Attention Awareness Scale by Brown et al, (2003)). Instrument comprised of 15 self-reported items. Students of secondary level were selected conveniently from the assessable population of District Sahiwal (Pakistan). Findings of this quantitative study was revealed that EI have positive relation with grades while negative relation with Mindfulness. Students’ emotional intelligence and mindfulness skills may be enhanced by using different teaching learning skills and making desirable changes in the system of education.