Investigating the Association between Emotional Intelligence and Socioeconomic Status of Ashesi University College Students

ociation between the socioeconomic status and emotional intelligence of students in Ashesi University College. It has been categorised into five different chapters—chapter 1 introduces the topic; chapter 2 establishes a theoretical framework and reviews similar studies conducted by other researchers; chapter 3 explains the methodology used; chapter 4 analyses the data collected; and chapter 5 describes the conclusions and recommendations made. Using Ashesi University College as the background of the study, a sample size of 127 was used—this includes 125 students and two Deans of Students. While questionnaires were administered to the students, the Deans of Students were interviewed. Given four different hypotheses, the data retrieved was analysed using content analysis, analysis of variance, chisquared test of independence, and a t-test. Results showed that although there is no significant association between the socioeconomic status of students and their level of emotional intelligence, students with poor socioeconomic status are more emotionally intelligent than the others. Unlike students’ ability to motivate themselves, it appeared that the other components of emotional intelligence— level of selfawareness, managing emotions, empathy and social skills of students does not change throughout their 4 years stay in the school. It is recommended that the school extends the programs it organises for students in first year across the other levels for all differences to be permanently bridged. Also, the school should adopt a strategy that emphasizes other factors that may contribute to higher academic performance such as expanding its mentorship program. Keywords: socioeconomic status, emotional intelligence, academic success, cognitive