Article

The Mediating Effects of the Need for Competence and Stress on the Levels of Emotional Intelligence and Academic Achievement of Korean College Students

Author

이숙정

Information

pp. 53~69 / 2012 Vol.19 No.1

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effects of the need for competence and stress onthe levels of emotional intelligence and academic achievement of Korean college students. The participantswere 232 undergraduate students(males: 106, females: 126). The instrument used for the study consisted ofthe emotional intelligence scale, the need for competence scale, the academic and career stress scale, andthe GPA of the students themselves. Descriptive statistics, correlations, and structural equationmodeling(SEM) were conducted for the purposes of data analyses using the SPSS 18.0 and AMOS 4.0programs. The results of this study were as follows. First, emotional intelligence was positively related withthe need for competence and academic achievement, but it was negatively related to academic and careerstress. Second, the need for competence and stress significantly predicted levels of academic achievement.However, emotional intelligence did not directly effect levels of academic achievement. Third, the SEManalysis revealed that the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement were fullymediated by competence and stress. This model was proven to be a valid one to present the structuralmodel for this sample (RMSEA=.053, TLI, CFI>.90). The results were discussed in terms of themanagement of personal emotions and the learning environment for the improvement of academicachievement levels and academic adaptation to college life. The implications and limitations of this studywere also discussed along with a number of suggestions for future research.

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