THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL STUDIES Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Academic Achievement among Secondary School Students in Kiambu County, Kenya

: The aim of this study was to establish if emotional intelligence predicts academic achievement among form four students in public secondary schools in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study was anchored on social cognitive theory developed by Bandura in 1986. This study used correlational research design. Data were collected from 11 secondary schools out of 43 secondary schools in Kiambu Sub-County. The study sample comprised of 390 students from the 11 secondary schools. Two types of sampling procedures; proportionate sampling and simple random sampling were used to select the sample. The form four students who participated in the study were selected using simple random sampling. Emotional Intelligence Scale was used as the primary tool to collect data. Pilot study was conducted in one school in Kiambu Sub County to establish the validity and reliability of the research tools. Demographic data were analyzed by use of descriptive statistics and emotional intelligence and academic achievement data were analyzed by use of inferential statistics (Pearson correlation, regression analysis and one way ANOVA) with the help of SPSS program version 20.The findings revealed that emotional intelligence and academic achievement had a significant positive relationship (r (374) = . 236, p = . 00). The results of one-way ANOVA on the mean differences in academic achievement scores based on the three levels of emotional intelligence, showed that the three-group differed significantly. The study makes the following recommendations; student counsellors, teachers and school administrators should come up with training program for students on the development of emotional intelligence skills. All the stakeholders in education sector should ensure that secondary schools provide positive learning experiences to enhance development of cognitive constructs that enhance academic achievement. achievement, Maraichelvi and (2013) carried out a study among 300 undergraduate final year students in India. The students were randomly sampled and then questionnaires administered to collect data. The correlational study examined four specified domains of emotional intelligence namely interpersonal consciousness, intrapersonal consciousness, intrapersonal management and interpersonal management and the findings indicated that all the domains were positively correlated to academic achievement. However, the study did not report the extent to which the domains of emotional intelligence predicted academic achievement. The study also used a sample of university students and therefore prompting the need to use high school students from Kiambu Sub County to investigate the extent to which the domains of emotional intelligence predict academic achievement. In a related study, Yahaya et al (2011) in their investigation examined the relationship between each of the five dimensions of emotional intelligence namely self-awareness, emotional management, self-motivation, empathy and interpersonal skills and academic achievement. The survey study was conducted among secondary school students in Malaysia who were randomly sampled to fill the questionnaires. The Pearson correlation and regression analyses results revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between self-awareness ( r = .21), emotional management ( r = .21) and empathy ( r = .21) at the level of p<. 05 with academic achievement. Multiple regression analysis (stepwise) results showed that only three dimensions of emotional intelligence which are self- awareness ( β = 0.261), self-motivation ( β = -0.182) and empathy ( β = 0.167) accounted for 8.7% of variation in criterion (academic achievement) variable. It was unclear how the intervening variables; age and gender which have been found to influence emotional intelligence were statistically handled. This study statistically controlled the intervening variables and then examined how emotional intelligence predicted academic achievement of students in a developing country. findings imply that the problem of below average academic achievement scores in KCSE among majority of the students may be attributed to their level of emotional intelligence. Even though the results indicated that majority of the students involved in the study scored averagely in academic achievement, the performance is likely to be below when students sit national exams because they are standardized tests. Therefore, the problem this study sought to address is associated with the emotional intelligence of the students.