The Relationship Between Education Level, Age, and Socio-emotional Intelligence in Adults: An Exploratory Analysis

The modern society has challenged social interaction that has undergone significant changes due to the social and cultural transformations they experience. Consequently, the role of socio-emotional intelligence has become paramount for individual success and the quality of life. In this context, the present study aimed to investigate how age and education level, as independent factors, might influence the development of socio-emotional intelligence skills, which are essential in everyday life. The research sample consisted of 340 participants from the Romanian counties of Dolj, Olt, Mehedinți, Vâlcea, and Gorj. We used the IPIP socio-emotional intelligence scale to measure the level of socio-emotional intelligence, while age was recorded as a quantitative variable and education level as a qualitative variable (categorized as medium and higher education). The results indicated no significant differences in socio-emotional intelligence levels between individuals with medium and higher education (t=1.21, df=378, p=0.22, as p=0.22, p>0.05). Regarding the age factor, a positive and significant correlation was found between socio-emotional intelligence levels and the age of adults (r=0.56, p=0.02), concluding that as age increases, the level of social and emotional intelligence tends to be higher.© The Author(s) 2024. Published by RITHA Publishing. This article is distributed under the terms of the license CC-BY 4.0., which permits any further distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited maintaining attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.