Development and Validation of an Emotional Intelligence Scale for Puerto Rican Students

Resumen

This article describes the process of development and validity of an emotional intelligence scale for Puerto Rican students based on Goleman’s proposed five dimension model for Emotional Intelligence (EI) (Goleman, 1995). For the proposed five dimensions 105 items were developed. The scale was completed by 191 students from different academic institutions. Item, factor, and correlation analysis were performed to evaluate the psychological properties. The reliability coefficients for dimensions ranged from .48 to .86, and for the total scale was .84. When the general scale was compared with each dimension, correlations ranged from .16 to .76. Preliminary results suggest that the developed scale is partially adjusted to Goleman’s five dimension theory. Recommendations are made for strengthening the scale through development and refining of items.