Do Measures of Emotional Intelligence Predict Social Acceptability?

The concurrent and predictive utility of three measures of Emotional Intelligence (EI) were determined by administering the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test: Youth Version (MSCEIT:YV; Mayer, Salovey, & Caruso, in press), the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version ( EQ-i:YV; Bar-On, 2000), the Emotional Aptitude teacher rating scale of the UNIT: Gifted Screening Scale (UNIT: GSS; McCallum & Bracken, in press) and a sociometric measure to 102 third, fourth, and fifth grade students in two rural elementary schools in the Southeastern United States and one elementary school in the North Central United States. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients of scales across instruments ranged from .20 (p < . 05) to .39 (p < .01) Results from dependent t tests showed no significant difference between overall mean scores of the EQ-i:YV and MSCEIT:YV (p <.05) but did show a significant difference between the UNIT:GSS Emotional Aptitude Scale scores of male and female participants (p < .01. Only the UNIT:GSS EAS predicted results of the sociometric in stepwise multiple regression, though the relationship was modest (R² = .07, p < .01). Apparently, the three instruments assess EI somewhat independently and relate to a peer-based sociometric only modestly.