Emotional Intelligence and Study Habits: A Correlational Study Among Undergraduates

Abstract

This quantitative study examines the role of Emotional Intelligence (EI) and its relationship with study habits among undergraduate students using a correlational cross-sectional survey design. The study's main focus was to find the association between four EI competencies, namely self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management, and four dimensions of study habits, including time management and routine, integration of internet and technology, focus and distraction control, and study quality. Through stratified random and simple random sampling, 400 undergraduate students (200 from public and 200 from private universities) in Karachi were selected as the sample, without any gender or age bias. Data were collected using the Self-Assessment on Emotional Intelligence scale and a 20-item self-constructed questionnaire on study habits, whose reliability showed good internal consistency; overall Cronbach's alpha was .869 (Study Habits α = .752 and SAEI α = .926). Pearson correlations revealed statistically significant, strong positive correlations between all dimensions of EI and study habits, with r values ranging from .55 to .91 (p < .001). However, the highest correlation was measured between self-management and technology integration (r = .91), followed by relationship management and study quality (r = .86), and social awareness and time management (r = .85). Overall, these findings indicate that students' EI is closely related to effective study habits, highlighting the importance of interventions that promote EI in higher education institutions. Therefore, it is recommended that higher education institutions introduce training programs and workshops to promote students' EI at the higher education level, especially self-management and the constructive use of technology, to improve study habits and academic performance.