Emotional Intelligence and College Embeddedness as Incremental Predictors of Retention

Abstract

This study aims to contribute to the college retention literature by examining two psychosocial constructs, emotional intelligence (EI) and college embeddedness (CE), as potential predictors beyond the usual academic factors. EI was measured with the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT V2.0, 2003) and was scaled using consensus scoring. CE was measured using modified versions of the composite job embeddedness measure (Mitchell et al., 2001) and global job embeddedness measure (Crossley et al., 2007). Academic records, including a previously validated predictor of first-year academic success at the time of admission and retention status measured during the first three weeks of the student's sophomore year, were obtained from a sample of n = 745 first-time freshman enrolled at a large southwestern university. After pairing the academic records with the EI and CE measures, multiple logistic regression was used to evaluate the incremental predictive value of EI and CE. The study found that both EI and CE provided incremental predictive value (AUC = .785) over standard academic predictors, with high levels of CE being strongly associated with increased retention and, contrary to the hypothesis, high levels of EI being weakly associated with decreased levels of retention. Implications of these results for retention scholars and practitioners are discussed.