Emotional intelligence levels of undergraduate kinesiology students: Brief report

Emotional intelligence (EI) can be defined as the ability to monitor one’s own emotions and to understand and manage people. It is an essential skill set for those who have direct contact with people. Nevertheless, minimal EI research has been performed on students in academic programs. The purpose of this study was to determine the level of EI in undergraduate kinesiology students while also comparing differences among four majors. Students in athletic training, physical education, health promotion, and sports management programs completed a 33-item emotional intelligence inventory. One-way ANOVAs for major, year in school and gender were non-significant. The mean scores on the EI inventory and lack of differences across disciplines suggest that health-related academic programs should place more effort in incorporating emotional intelligence in the curriculum.