Measuring Spanish students’ perception of teachers’ emotionally intelligent behavior: Relationships to academic and individual outcomes

Abstract

The aim of the present investigation was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Teacher Emotionally Intelligent Behavior Scale (TEIBS-S) in two independent studies with secondary students. In Study 1, a cross-sectional design was used and 1850 secondary students (52.3% girls; M_age = 14.2 years) completed the TEIBS-S and other self-report measures of theoretically relevant constructs, including life satisfaction, negative emotional states, the quality of teacher-student relationships, and support in the classroom. In Study 2, a prospective design was used in which 409 secondary school students (60% girls; M_age = 13.4 years) completed the TEIBS-S at time 1 and different self-report measures of academic engagement, satisfaction with life, positive and negative emotional states, anxiety and depression symptomatology, and somatic symptoms over on average five-month prospective interval. The results revealed preliminary evidence of adequate internal consistency. Also, the factor analyses supported a one–factor solution as original English version and was invariant across gender and expected significant relationships with the well-being and academic variables analyzed. Finally, Study 2 indicated that the TEIBS-S was positively related to academic engagement dimensions, positive affect and life satisfaction and negatively linked to somatic symptoms five months later. Our findings provide preliminary evidence that the TEIBS-S is a useful and valid instrument to assess teacher emotional intelligence-related behaviors that are linked to students’ affective and academic outcomes. Finally, practical recommendations and future lines of research using the TEIBS-S in school context are suggested.