THE EFFECTS OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING OF YOUTHS IN KANIBUNGAN VILLAGE, PITAS

Abstract

Youths today deal with many challenges, such as gaining better academic success and maintaining psychological well-being. In dealing with these challenges, one of the factors that might predict youths’ academic success and psychological well-being is spiritual intelligence. Therefore, a study was conducted to examine the effects of spiritual intelligence on youths’ academic achievements and psychological well-being. Two hundred fifty youths from the Emmanuel Christian Fellowship group of Kanibungan village, Pitas took part in this study. A set of questionnaires, which consisted of four sections, were used to measures the youths’ demographic profiles, academic achievements, spiritual intelligence, and psychological well-being. The research hypotheses were analysed using the simple regression test. Results showed that spiritual intelligence can stand as a predictor for both academic achievements and psychological well-being. Spiritual intelligence can be explained for 40% of the variance on academic achievement (β=.64, F(1, 248) = 169.677, p < .05). In addition, spiritual intelligence explained 25% of the psychological well-being (β=.50 F(1, 248) = 84.656, k < .05). The results revealed that the higher a youth’s spiritual intelligence, such as when applying spiritual values when dealing with problems and adapting to new environments, the higher a student’s academic achievements and psychological well-being. The findings allow us to reflect on how, aside from the intelligence quotient, spiritual intelligence is important for youths’ academic success and psychological well-being. Instilling spiritual intelligence in youths may give them strength and faith when meeting the challenges of today’s world.