EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF MIDWIFERY STUDENTS IN

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EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF MIDWIFERY STUDENTS IN

UBUDIYAH UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA (UUI) ACEH, INDONESIA

BY

RAHMA FAJRI YANI

A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education

Kulliyyah of Education

International Islamic University Malaysia

SEPTEMBER 2016

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ABSTRACT

This study aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic performance among midwifery students at Ubudiyah University of Indonesia (UUI), Aceh, Indonesia. This quantitative study applied a cross sectional survey with census research design. A sample consisted of one hundred and forty-eight (n=148) midwifery students participated in this study. The data were collected using two questionnaires, namely Trait Emotional intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) developed by Cooper and Petrides (2010) which consisted of 30 items and Gargallo, Suarez-Rodriguez and Perez-Perez‟s (2009) CEVEAPEU questionnaire with 15 items. Descriptive analysis, Pearson Correlation test and Multiple Regression Analysis were applied in this study. The results of the study showed that there is a positive significant relationship between the facets of emotional intelligence and academic performance. It was also found that self-awareness is a strong predictor of academic performance. The result indicated that only self-management has negative significant relationship toward CGPA of midwifery students at UUI.

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ثحبلا ةصلاخ

ءادلأاو يفطاعلا ءاكذلا ينب ةقلاع كانى تناك اذإ ام ديدتح لىإ ةساردلا هذى فدته ةساردلا هذى تقبط .ويشتأ ،ايسينودنإب ةيدوبع ةعماج في ديلوتلا مسق بلاط ينب ييمداكلأا نم ةساردلا ةنيع تنوكتو .يدادعتلا ثحبلا ميمصت عم يعطقم حسم ةيمكلا 841

ةبلاط

ا مسق نم نايبتسا جذونم اهمو ،تانايبتسلاا نم يننثا مادختساب تانايبلا عجم تم دقو .ديلوتل

( يفطاعلا ءاكذلا ةمسل يرصق

TEIQue-SF

نم نوكتي يذلاو ) 03

نايبتسا ثم ،ادنب

(

CEVEAPEU

نم نوكتي يذلاو ) 81

نوسيرب رابتخاو ،يفصولا ليلحتلا قيبطت تمو .ادنب

لما رادنحلاا ليلتحو ،يطابترلاا ةقلاع كانى نأ ةساردلا جئاتن ترهظأو .ةساردلا هذى في ددعت

ترهظأ دقو .ييمداكلأا ءادلأاو يفطاعلا ءاكذلا بناوج ينب ةيئاصحإ ةللاد تاذ ةيبايجإ نأ جئاتنلا تراشأو .ييمداكلأا ءادلأا ىلع ايوق ارشؤم برتعي تياذلا يعولا نأ اضيأ جئاتنلا اهيدل تيلا يى طقف ةيتاذلا ةرادلإا بلاط ىدل يمكاترلا لدعلما هاتج ةيربك ةيبلس ةقلاع

.ايسينودنإب ةيدوبع ةعماج في ديلوتلا مسق ةعماج

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APPROVAL PAGE

I certify that I have supervised and read this study and that in my opinion, it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education

………..

Mohammad Sahari Nordin Supervisor

I certify that I have read this study and that in my opinion it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a dissertation for the degree of Master of Education

………..

Joharry Othman Examiner

This dissertation was submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology Counseling and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education

………..

Joharry Othman

Head, Department of Educational Psychology and Counseling

This dissertation was submitted to the Kulliyyah of Education and is accepted as a fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Education

………..

Nik Ahmad Hisham Ismail Dean, Kulliyyah of Education

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DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this dissertation is the result of my own investigations, except where otherwise stated. I also declare that it has not been previously or concurrently submitted as a whole for any other degrees at IIUM or other institutions.

Rahma Fajri Yani

Signature ... Date ...

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INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY MALAYSIA

DECLARATION OF COPYRIGHT AND AFFIRMATION OF FAIR USE OF UNPUBLISHED RESEARCH

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ACADEMIC

PERFORMANCE OF MIDWIFERY STUDENTS’ IN UBUDIYAH UNIVERSITY OF INDONESIA (UUI) ACEH, INDONESIA

I declare that the copyright holders of this dissertation are jointly owned by the student and IIUM.

No part of this unpublished research may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder except as provided below

1. Any material contained in or derived from this unpublished research may be used by others in their writing with due acknowledgement.

2. IIUM or its library will have the right to make and transmit copies (print or electronic) for institutional and academic purposes.

3. The IIUM library will have the right to make, store in a retrieved system and supply copies of this unpublished research if requested by other universities and research libraries.

By signing this form, I acknowledged that I have read and understand the IIUM Intellectual Property Right and Commercialization policy.

Affirmed by Rahma Fajri Yani

……..……….. ………..

Signature Date

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

In the name of Allah, the most Gracious and the Most merciful. Peace be upon Prophet Muhammad, who has guided mankind from the darkness to the lightness. I wish to express my eternal gratitude to Allah for giving me endless strength, grace and wisdom in my life.

I am enormously thankful to Prof. Dr. Mohammad Sahari Nordin as my supervisor for the support and guidance during the process until the end of this research. I sincerely appreciate the time that he has spent to read, revise and provide recommendations for my thesis.

Many thanks to all my beloved friends who are like my family here at the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)]. They are people who always support me in IIUM. We share stories, knowledge and love. I know that our stroeis together will be a great memory in the future, full stop May Allah bless you all guys.

Finally, I would like to dedicate my deepest gratitude especially for my beloved mother, Fatimah Zahra, and my father, Rasidi, for their unconditional loves, supports and prayers. To my brother and sister, Reza Fahmi and Ridha Fadhilla. Last but not least, I sincerely thanks all of my big family members and everyone who has contributed in this research.

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LIST OF TABLES

Table No. Page No.

3.1 Distribution of Population 38

3.2 Score of Questionnaire 40

3.3 Format of Questionnaire 40

3.4 Internal Reliability Index 41

4.1 Frequency Distribution of The Respondents 45

4.2 Descriptive Data of Self-Awareness 47

4.3 Descriptive Data of Self-Management 48

4.4 Descriptive Data of Social Awareness 50

4.5 Descriptive Data of Relationship Management 52

4.6 Descriptive Data of Academic Performance 54

4.7 Correlation Matrix 56

4.8 The Summary of Relationship between Variables 57

4.9 ANOVA Results 58

4.10 Regression Coefficients 58

4.11 Inter-items Correlation Matrix 59

4.12 Summary of The Results 61

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure No. Page No.

1.1 The Theoretical Framework of emotional intelligence and 9 Academic Performance

1.2 Conceptual Framework of emotional intelligence and Academic 10 Performance

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CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Learning is the process of studying to get knowledge and skills which involves thinking ability. As stated by Farooq (2014), all human beings are different in their thinking capabilities, understanding abilities, skills, comprehension, and other aspects of personality. It is said that emotion plays an important role in learning especially in determining a learner‟s success. Farooq (2014) mentioned that if learners feel more relaxed when they study, they will not only achieve better personal development but also better academic development. In addition, Lawrence and Deepa (2013) stated that emotion gives stations between sensory input and thinking. When input is interpreted positively, the students are motivated to act and to achieve goals in their study. However, when the input is interpreted negatively, they do not act and do not learn well. Negative emotions will cause problems in learning and will affect students‟ performance. Thus, emotion plays an important role in humans‟ learning.

Based on the finding by Asmari (2014), in the first half of the 20th century, Intelligence Quotient (IQ) tests were considered acceptable measures of intelligence;

However, IQ scores are not considered as the only measure of intelligence. In his analysing, IQ is not the only factor that affects a person‟s learning achievement, but there are many factors such as emotional intelligence. Students‟ learning not only emphasizes on the academic value and intelligence of the brain, but it also emphasizes on the emotional intelligence because emotional intelligence as a cognition and emotion plays an important role in humans‟ learning. In short, as summarized by Banat and Rimawi (2014), emotional intelligence is seen as the foundation of human

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personal life, which plays an effective role in evaluation of human behaviour and performance of an individual; it is also an important aspect in monitoring the emotions, the way individuals interact with each other, and in determining their academic performance.

Interestingly, emotional intelligence and academic performance issues have long become a major attention amongst the educationists such as teachers, parents, and psychologists. According to Malik and Shujja (2013), emotional intelligence can predict students‟ goals and success. They believed that this ability can increase the intellectual potential of students and improve their cognitive aspect. As Nwadinigwe and Azuka-Obieke (2012) stated, the stability between cognitive and emotional intelligence among students can produce creative thinking, healthy, and high achieving students. Therefore, in education, cognitive aspect should be balanced with other potentials such as emotional skills because the ability to understand own emotions and other emotions will contributes to achieving high performance students.

A number of experts and researchers believed that 80% of a person‟s success is devised from the emotional intelligence factor (Mohzan, Hassan & Halil, 2013). It is also found that mental and cognition of students were the predictors of the students‟

success in academic performance. Interestingly, both mental and cognitive are not the only key to students‟ academic performance because many cases stated that most students who had high level of cognitive aptitude had poor academic achievement (Akbaribooreng, Hosseini, Zangouei & Ramroodi, 2015). Therefore, the cognitive intelligence is not the only main factor to achieve good performance among students but the competence, such as emotional intelligence is also necessary to enhance the academic success.

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Similarly, Victoroff and Boyatzis (2013) also specified that the cognitive ability is necessary but it is not a sufficient condition to guarantee professional excellence. Not only IQ can enhance students‟ performance, emotional intelligence as another factor that can also influences students‟ performance. In order to obtain success in academic performance, it is highly important to improve their personality with emotional intelligence including stress management (Preeti, 2013). She also identified that students‟ performance refers to the extent in which learners acquire the knowledge, skills and proficiencies. Emotional skills require an individual to develop human behaviours, and it has impacts on the individual‟s growth. Interestingly, it will also affect positive outcomes and personal well-being (Maraichelvi & Rajan, 2013).

Therefore, emotional intelligence is the essential factor rather than IQ to the human development and growth.

Emotional intelligence is necessary to improve students‟ performance.

Students who have lack emotional intelligence may not be able to achieve personal goals which include better performance (Emang, Haty, Azam, Entigar, Omar, &

Ramli, 2014). Many students are smart, but they cannot manage their emotions, such as irritability and despair; thus, such achievement will not be helpful to them.

Nwadinigwe and Azuka-Obieke (2012) indicated that if the students have emotional intelligence skills, it will enable them to reduce negative stress in their life, build healthy relationship, communicate effectively, and develop emotional health.

Furthermore, the competence in understanding their own emotions and others emotions, being capable to communicate effectively, building good relationship with others and being able to differentiate various emotions will develop a positive mood and increase creative thought (Schutte, Malouff, & Thorsteinsson, 2013). Therefore, a

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stable emotional intelligence will improve students‟ performance due to the fact that the capability to manage emotions will enhance their emotional intelligence.

Additionally, being emotionally intelligent can ensure an individual‟s success through their life transitions at school, college and also in working world (Mohzan et al., 2013). Emotional intelligence is a skill that can help students to cope and to deal easily with college environment and also academi problems. Emotional intelligence is important at each stage of development. These same skills and competencies are critical to achieve better performance. Students who have high emotional intelligence will be more confident, learn fast , well-behaved, and they may be able to handle their own emotions effectively. High emotional intelligence will build a person self- confidence in dealing with the challenges of life, environment and also educational institution (Yahaya, Yahaya, Boon, Hashim & Lee, 2012). Hence, emotional intelligence needs to be developed in students because this will underlie the skills of students not only in the community but also in educational environment.

In recent years, many studies have focused on the influence of emotional intelligence towards students‟ performance, but the finding of these studies still open many questions whether emotional intelligence is signicantly correlated to academic performance or emotional intelligence has no correlation toward academic performance (Morales & Zafra, 2013). The results of the studies on the relationship between students‟ emotional intelligence and academic achievement showed that there is a positive relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement (Emang et al. 2014; Chamundeswari, 2013; Nwadinigwe & Azuka-Obieke, 2012;

Shah, Sanisara, Mehta, & Vaghela, 2014). However, a study conducted by Rahman, Shah, and Omar (2012) indicated that emotional intelligence has no significant relationship toward students‟ performance. Similarly, Lawrence and Deepa„s (2013)

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study on the relationship between students‟ emotional intelligence and academic achievements showed that there is no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement of high school students‟ at Kanyakumari district, India. Therefore, based on the above-mentioned findings, the present study is specificall undertaken to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance among midwifery students at Ubudiyah University of Indonesia (UUI), Aceh, Indonesia.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Midwifery students are those who apply their knowledge in order to help pregnant mothers, monitor fetal health, and assits caregivers in clinical environment. A midwifery students, they should pay attention in learning how to control their emotions, to manage the stress and to maintain a good relationship with others in order to provide a good health service to the society. Therefore, emotional intelligence is very important for midwifery students because it may improve their self-awareness, empathy, and problem solving skills. It may also enhance their performance academically and socially because emotional intelligence is one of the factors that can affect students‟ performance. Many researches, such as Emang et al. (2014), Shah et al. (2014), Chamundeswari (2013), and Nwadinigwe and Azuka-Obieke (2012) have shown the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement.

However, educational curriculum in Indonesia especially on midwifery students still emphasizes more on the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) rather than emotional intelligence (Qurniyawati, 2010). Students with low emotional intelligence may face failures and difficulties in dealing with their tasks which ultimately weakens their academic motivation (Roy, Sinha, & Suman, 2013). Specifically in Ubudiyah

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University, there are many students who have high IQ but their academic achievement is relatively low. At the same time, there are also many students who have relatively low IQ capabilities, but they can achieve high academic achievement.

Therefore, IQ is not the only factor that can influence students‟ academic achievement; emotional intelligence (EI) could also possibbly be a contributing factor in academic performance.

There were a few studies conducted to investigate the emotional intelligence and academic performance in Indonesia (Qurniyawati, 2010; Nuryanti, 2010; Putri, 2011; Hastuti, 2015). However, specific investigation on midwifery students in Ubudiyah University, Aceh, has not been obeserved yet. Due to the gap identified, there is a need to understand and analyse about emotional intelligence that is associated with the success of university students in the said institution. Therefore, this study intends to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance of midwifery students in Ubudiyah University, Aceh, Indonesia.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

The major objective of this study is to determine whether there is a relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance. This study also attempts to identify the levels of emotional intelligence and academic performance of midwifery students at Ubudiyyah University, Aceh, Indonesia.

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7 1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Focusing on the facets of emotional intelligence (EI), the study attempts to address the following research questions:

1. What are the levels of midwifery students‟ emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness?

2. What are the levels of midwifery students‟ emotional intelligence in terms of self-management?

3. What are the levels of midwifery students‟ emotional intelligence in terms of social-awareness?

4. What are the levels of midwifery students‟ emotional intelligence in terms of relationship management?

5. What is the level of midwifery students‟ academic performance?

6. Is there any significant relationship between facets of emotional intelligence and academic performance among midwifery students?

7. Which facets of emotional intelligence are significant in explaining the variations in the academic performance among midwifery students?

1.5 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

This study will adopt the emotional intelligence model developed by Goleman (2001).

Based on his theory, emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and control emotions in ourselves and others‟ emotions. There are four major EI: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Emotional intelligence is an important resource to enhance students‟ learning, success and quality in education. Maraichelvi and Rajan (2013) specified that the construct of emotional intelligence consists of four elements, namely intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal

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awareness, intrapersonal management, and interpersonal management. In addition, Yahaya et al. (2012) presented other components that contributes to emotional intelligence. They are self-awareness, emotional management, self-motivation, empathy and interpersonal skill. However, in this study the researcher only adopted the dimensions of emotional intelligence based on Goleman‟s (2001) theory.

Golemans‟ model contains all of the aspects proposed by other studies and is also considered as the most suitable with the objective of this study. Hence, Golemans‟

model on emotional intelligence will be employed in this present study. According to the theory of Goleman (2001), emotional intelligence is based on the following dimensions:

1. Self-Awareness: When an individual has the aptitude to understand and to reflect on their own emotional conditions.

2. Self-Management: The ability to manage individual‟s feelings and self- emotion such as the feeling of anxiety and anger.

3. Social-Awareness: The competency to recognize others‟ feelings such as empathy with each other.

4. Relationship Management: The ability to control self-emotion because it will influence other persons‟ emotions. If individuals cannot manage their emotions in appropriate ways and they have lack of empathy, it will affect their interactions management with other persons.

Additionally, emotional intelligence can predict academic performance among students. It is due to the fact that students who have high level of emotional skills would be able to apply their knowledge in different situations, while students who have low level of emotional intelligence would face problem in transforming their knowledge into their performance (Akbaribooreng et al., 2015). The facets of

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emotional intelligence such as self-management contribute in building self-concept and it will improve students‟ management in doing their academic work.

Likewise, another dimension of emotional intelligence which is self-awareness will develop self-motivation where students will motivate themselves to do their work.

Hence, students will attain high academic achievement. Roy et al. (2013) confirmed that individuals who have high level of emotional intelligence would perform better academically, however, students with low level of emotional intelligence may find it difficult to deal with learning environment, which will weaken their academic motivation. In short, it can be concluded that emotional intelligence, such as self- awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management, significantly correlate with academic performance.

Figure 1.1 The Theoretical Framework of Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance. Source: (Goleman, 2001)

1.6 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

This study aimed to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement among midwifery students in Ubudiyah University of Indonesia UUI. The main problem that is faced by midwifery students in UUI is there

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

 Self-Awareness

 Self-Management

 Social Awareness

 Relationship Management

ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

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are many students with high IQ, but they fail to achieve high academic performance.

On the other hand, many students with low IQ are capable to achieve academic success. It can be indicated that students with high level of emotional skills will apply their knowledge efficiently and effectively in their personal life as well as work place.

In short, the researcher believed that the concept of emotional intelligence proposed by Goleman (2001) is considered the most suitable with this present study which was to identify the level of students‟ emotional intelligence, level of academic performance and the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance. The conceptual framework of emotional intelligence and academic performance is presented in the figure below.

Figure 1.2 Conceptual Framework of Emotional Intelligence and Academic Performance

1.7 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study is designed to investigate the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance among midwifery students. This is important because it

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attempts to clarify whether or not students with various level of emotional intelligence demonstrate measureable differences in the academic performance. This study will also be beneficial to the midwifery students in terms of understanding, controlling their emotions, motivating themselves in achieving better performance, and fostering a good relationship with others.

In addition, this study will contribute to a beneficial impact for midwifery students when they apply their knowledge in the real life situation. Students, for example, will be able to manage their emotions when they help pregnant mothers, and will be able to build good relationship with other midwives. For the teachers, they will be able to improve the elements of emotional intelligence in the learning process, and they might design the curriculum and instructional in such a way as to support the development of emotional intelligence among midwifery students. Thus, the achievement of students‟ performance will be better.

1.8 DELIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study was conducted on 148 midwifery students in Ubudiyah University of Indonesia. Due to time limitation, this study was conducted at only one university and all midwifery students were used as respondents in this study. Therefore, the results could not be generalized to students at other universities but will only be true for this university. The target population was also limited to the midwifery students only.

Hence, the results cannot be generalized to other students from other faculties of this university.

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12 1.9 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS

In order to provide basic understanding for the readers, there is a need to interpret some terms related to this study. Several key terms are interpreted in this study.

Emotional Intelligence: Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize the meaning of emotion, manage the relationship with others and the ability to solve problems (Chamundeswari, 2013; Goleman, 2001). Emotional intelligence is also reflected as the ability to learn the changes of self emotions. An individual with high emotional intelligence could express and recognize their emotions in a significant ways, and they are also able to explain and understand the characteristics of their emotions as well as others‟ emotions (Salehi, Zadeh, Ghaderi, & Tabasi, 2015).

Self-Awareness: The ability to know own emotions and feelings (Goleman, 2001).

Self-awareness refers to the ability to identify the feeling of own self or own emotion, and it is the key to inform the weakness and the strength of a person (Yahaya et al., 2012). This study determines how students understand and reflect their own emotions.

Self-Management: The ability to regulate distressing affects like anxiety and anger (Goleman, 2001). Self-management also refers to the skill to manage the positive as well as negative feelings, not only own feeling or emotions but also others‟ emotions (Chin, Anantharaman, & Tong, 2011). In this study, it defines how students manage their own emotions.

Social-Awareness: The capability to empathize with each other (Goleman, 2001).

Farshi, Vahidi, and Jabraeili (2015) emphasized that social skill is a complex skill in

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terms of communication, problem solving, social interaction and decision making. In this study, the researcher will seek to investigate the students‟ awareness toward social environment and the ability of the students to interact with each other.

Relationship management: Goleman (2001) defined relationship management is as the ability to adapt and to interact with each other. Chamundeswari (2013) also stated that relationship management is when a person is capable of handling interpersonal interaction, being able to resolve the conflict with others and being a good negotiator.

If the students cannot control their emotions and lack of empathy, there is less chance to build a good relationship with others. In this study, it observes how students are able to build relationship with others.

Academic Performance: The ability for an individual to use its knowledge efficiently and effectively (Mehmood, Qasim & Azam, 2013). Preeti (2013) also stated that academic performance refers to the extent in which learners acquire the knowledge, skills and aptitudes. This study examines academic performance based on students‟

CGPA which is previous academic performance and passive performance.

1.10 OPERATIONAL DEFINITIONS

A set of questionnaire entitled Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) developed by Cooper and Petrides (2010), will be adopted in order to measure emotional intelligence. The second set of questionnaire which is CEVEAPEU questionnaire developed by Gargallo, Suarez-Rodriguez, and Perez-Perez (2009), will also be adapted to measure academic performance.