Ability emotional intelligence, trait emotional intelligence, and academic success in British secondary schools: A 5ᅡᅠyear longitudinal study

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords: Emotional intelligence Emotional self-efficacy Emotions Academic success Academic achievement Adolescence Prospective study This study examines the long-term effects of ability-and trait EI on academic performance for British adolescents. The sample comprised 413 students from three secondary schools in the NorthWest of England. Students completed tests of ability EI, trait EI, personality, and cognitive ability in Year 7 (mean age = 11 years 2 months). Performance data at the end of Year 11 (mean age = 15 years 10 months) were collected. Structural Equation Modelling examined the longitudinal relationships between latent variables of these constructs. Results show that the importance of ability EI resides in the fact that it moderates the effect of cognitive ability on performance in Year 11. Trait EI has a direct effect on Year 11 performance for boys only. This suggests that initiatives that help to develop ability EI and increase trait EI offer educators opportunities to improve educational achievement. Emotional skills support both social and cognitive development in young children (see Denham, 2007, for review). Emotional knowledge also predicts academic competence and task orientation in middle childhood, even when controlling for verbal ability (Izard, 2002; Izard et al., 2001). Furthermore, poor emotional competence amongst adolescents results in school difficulties associated with subsequent academic underachievement, such as school drop-out and persistent In keeping with this notion that emotional functioning is linked to academic performance and success, we investigated associations between ability-and trait-emotional intelligence (EI) and academic achievement amongst British adolescents in mainstream education. A prospective design determined whether ability and trait EI at transfer into British secondary school (aged 11–12: Year 7) predict academic performance at age 16 (Year 11). Such work provides comprehensive information about how reasoning and problem-solving in the emotion domain (ability EI) and individual self-perceptions in emotional capabilities (trait EI) predict academic success in adolescence. 1.1. The ability and trait EI distinction EI has been conceptualised as an emotion-related cognitive ability involving the ability to perceive, use, understand and regulate emo-These two perspectives have been termed ability EI and trait EI, respectively. This distinction between ability-and trait EI is well-supported in the adult literature, with meta analyses (Joseph & Newman, 2010; Van Rooy, Viswesvaran, & Pluta, 2005) showing non-significant associations between measures of trait EI and intelligence and a positive, although still relatively weak, association between ability EI and measures of …