Relationships among Academic Stress, Emotional Intelligence, and Academic Performance of University Students: A Correlational Study

Abstract

This cross-sectional correlational study examined the relationship among academic stress, emotional intelligence (EI), and self-reported cumulative grade point average (GPA) in 315 undergraduate students from two public-sector universities in Faisalabad, Pakistan. The researchers computed item-level descriptive statistics, internal consistency estimates, Pearson and Spearman correlations, and supplementary Welch independent-samples t tests. The mean academic-stress score was 3.65 (SD = 0.75), the mean EI score was 3.85 (SD = 0.59), and the mean GPA was 2.87 (SD = 0.52). Academic stress was not significantly correlated with EI (r = .013, p = .815) or with GPA (r = −.085, 95% CI [−.194, .025], p = .130), and EI was not significantly associated with GPA (r = −.050, p = .374); therefore, all three null hypotheses were retained. Supplementary comparisons showed higher EI in females (d = 0.66) and higher stress in GCUF students (d = 0.66), with negligible differences in GPA. The findings are bivariate and provisional given the non-probability sample, self-reported GPA, and study-developed instruments.