EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, PERSONALITY TRAITS AND ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OF STUDENTS IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS-EAST SENATORIAL DISTRICT, RIVERS STATE

The study investigated emotional intelligence, personality traits and achievement motivation of students in senior secondary schools in Rivers-East Senatorial District, Rivers State. Correlational research design was used for the study. Four research questions and four null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study consisted of 82,649 public senior secondary school students in Rivers-East Senatorial District. Simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample of 400 respondents for the study. A self-designed questionnaire titled: ‘Personality Traits and Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire’’ (PTEIQ) and “Achievement Motivation Scale” (AMS) was used for data collection. The (PTEIQ) and (AMS) yielded a reliability index of r=0.77 and r=0.75 respectively. Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) was used to answer research questions and test the null hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed that there was a high positive relationship between conscientiousness personality trait, openness to experience personality trait, interpersonal skills, empathy and achievement motivation of students in senior secondary schools in Rivers-East Senatorial District, Rivers State. It further revealed that there was significant relationship between conscientiousness personality trait, openness to experience personality trait, interpersonal skills, empathy and achievement motivation of students in senior secondary schools in Rivers-East Senatorial District, Rivers State. It was recommended among others that; students should be counselled on ways to improve their emotional intelligence, knowing too well that their level of emotional knowledge has a significant influence on their achievement motivation and their general wellbeing.