Emotional Intelligence in Professional Psychology Doctoral Students

Talent development and performance are two commonly investigated areas of psychological research, yet a minimal number of studies have been conducted that examine the specific factors that contribute to the development and performance of psychologists. The purpose of this study was to understand and describe elements of emotional intelligence and self-efficacy that was hypothesized to develop during doctoral psychology education and that ultimately contributes to performance in psychologists . The present study provided an opportunity for research data to be collected and analyzed that assisted in identifying emotional intelligence and self-efficacy in psychology doctoral students, and the role of these constructs in relation to master psychologists, who are considered the "best of the best" among psychologists (Skovholt & Jennings, 1999). A pilot study was conducted on master's level mental health counseling and social work students to confirm the feasibility of the present dissertation study. This study examined 90 clinical, counseling, and school psychology doctoral students from United States doctoral graduate programs, which comprise a subset of psychologists-in-training and psychology graduate programs. Two predictor variables (total years of graduate study and total hours of supervised clinical experience) and one criterion variable (performance-based emotional intelligence) were explored, with general self-efficacy and psychotherapy-specific self-efficacy serving as mediator variables. The Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) was included to measure performance-based emotional intelligence. Additionally, the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) and Counselor Activities Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES) were used to measure the mediator variables. These measures were chosen due to their psychometric properties and use in the previous literature. A multiple regression analysis and multiple mediation bootstrapping analysis were performed to test the first and second research questions, respectively. Findings revealed that supervised clinical experiences predicted higher performance-based emotional intelligence scores and that psychotherapy-specific self-efficacy and general self-efficacy were not mechanisms through which doctoral academic experiences affected performance-based emotional intelligence. Overall, total years of graduate study and total hours of supervised clinical experience accounted for 18.9% of the variance in performance-based emotional intelligence. Limitations of the current study, implications of the findings, and suggestions for future research are offered.