Are gifted students more emotionally intelligent than their non-gifted peers? A meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

This Meta-Analysis investigated the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and giftedness. The study focused on whether gifted learners possessed higher levels of EI when compared with their non-gifted peers. Furthermore, it sought to determine if gifted males and gifted females differed in their EI abilities. A search of published and unpublished studies in English and Arabic from 1990 to 2018 resulted in 21 studies that compared gifted with non-gifted students, and 11 studies that compared gifted males with gifted females in their EI ability. Using a random-effect model, the results showed that gifted students outperformed non-gifted students on EI, g = 0.226, SE = .036, 95% CI [0.155, 0.297], p < .001. Furthermore, in regards to emotional intelligence, gifted females significantly surpassed gifted males., g = 0.164, SE = .046, 95% CI [0.074, 0.255], p < .001. Multiple regression analyses showed that age, gender, EI measures, and EI skills significantly explained 18% of the variability in the mean effect between gifted vs. non-gifted students; whereas the age and EI skills moderators significantly explained 49% of the variation in the mean effect between gifted male and gifted female students. Implications and future directions were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Gifted
• non-gifted
• emotional intelligence
• gender differences
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.