Emotional intelligence and personality among undergraduate students in a rural district of South India

Background: Emotional intelligence is a key concept that contributes to the development of stronger relationships, academic and professional success and can lead to better mental, social and even physical health. It helps an individual to understand themselves and others, and has special significance in the life of a student. There is some preliminary evidence that emotional intelligence could also be associated with the personality traits of an individual. This association needs to be explored further and the current study aims to explore the same in the student population. Materials and Methods: The study aimed to assess the level of emotional intelligence and its correlation with the personality traits of college students. A descriptive research design was used and data were collected from 120 undergraduate students using simple random sampling. The emotional intelligence scale and big five inventory questionnaire were used to collect the data. Results: Most of the population belonged to an average level of emotional intelligence (58.3%), reported a high level of openness (49.2%), low level of conscientiousness (55.8%), high level of extraversion (76.7%), high level of agreeableness (47.5%) and low level of neuroticism (65.8%). Emotional intelligence was negatively correlated to neuroticism (r = −0.349**). Conclusion: The study results indicate that there is a significant correlation between emotional intelligence and neuroticism among undergraduate students. This aspect can be further explored to develop an intervention to enhance emotional intelligence among undergraduate students.