Thayer, Michael (2009) Emotional Intelligence: An Exploration of the Construct in Adolescents. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Emotional intelligence is an emerging psychological construct with varying definitions, measures, and applications. According to the ability model of emotional intelligence, the construct can be defined as the set of abilities that explain how we perceive, understand, and express our emotions and those of others. Research with adults shows preliminary evidence for the discriminant validity of the construct from general intelligence, personality, and well-being or positive affect, but little research has been conducted which explores the construct amongst adolescents. Two studies with adolescent students (N1 = 42, N2 = 29) from a regional high school were conducted. The first study showed that emotional intelligence, as measured by a self-report measure of the ability model of emotional intelligence, the SSRI, had a high shared variance with well-being, and reasonable discriminant validity from general intelligence and personality. Positive affect may be the underlying construct linking the constructs emotional intelligence, as measured by the SSRI, and well-being. The second study mirrored the design of the first study but used a new performance-based measure of emotional intelligence, the MSCEIT:YV. Surprisingly, no significant results were found, indicating that emotional intelligence, as measured by the MSCEIT:YV, has no overlap with general intelligence, personality or well-being, which is in contrast to the adult research which shows a slight but definite overlap with these constructs and emotional intelligence. The results of both studies are discussed herein, along with the limitations imposed by such small exploratory samples, while exciting future directions for researchers are suggested.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Bramston, Paul |
| Qualification: | Doctor of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 02:24 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 02:24 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52814 |
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