Emotional Intelligence and its Relation with Perceived Self-efficacy Among a Sample of Academically Superior Adolescents in Palestine

Abstract

The study aims to identify the level of emotional intelligence and perceived self-efficacy among academically superior adolescents in Palestine and the relation between these two variables, and the differences in each of them according to: gender, family income level, number of family members. The study relies on the descriptive correlative approach, through the application of emotional intelligence, and perceived self-efficacy scales, on an available sample of 203 male and female adolescents who excelled academically in the academic year 2021/2022. The results show that the level of emotional intelligence and all its fields is high, with an average of 3.93, where the field of “empathy” ranked first and the field of “social communication” came last. The level of the perceived self-efficacy is also high with an average of 3.83, where the "cognitive field" ranked first with a high level, while the "emotional domain" came finally, with a moderate level. The results indicate that there are no statistically significant differences in emotional intelligence and its domains, with the exception of social communication field in favor of males, and in emotional intelligence as a whole in favor of (village/town), and in emotional knowledge in favor of (village/town) and (camp), and in the field of sympathy in favor of the high family economic level. The results also indicate that there are no significant differences in the perceived self-efficacy and its domains due to: gender, place of residence, or the economic level of the family. The results show the existence of a direct, statistically significant relation between emotional intelligence and perceived self-efficacy among the academically superior adolescents in Palestine; the value of the Pearson correlation coefficient is (.650). The results indicates that there is a statistically significant effect of emotional intelligence fields in predicting the level of perceived self-efficacy. The (emotion management, social communication, and emotion regulation) shows 44.5% of the percentage of variation in the level of perceived self-efficacy, while (emotional knowledge, empathy) domains have no contribute in predicting the level of perceived self-efficacy.