Self-Esteem, Mental Health and Emotional Intelligence in a Malaysian Private Higher Learning Institution

To examine the relationship between self-esteem and mental health towards the level of emotional intelligence among students in a Malaysian private higher learning institution. Data were collected by distributing a total of 278 questionnaires to final year and penultimate year students. The questionnaire contains questions on demographic information, personality traits and emotional intelligence. The variables are adopted from past studies and measured using five points Likert scale, ranging from 1 "strongly disagree" to 5 "strongly agree". Students in the private higher learning institution has acceptable level of self-esteem, mental health and emotional intelligence. The results show that self-esteem and mental health has significant positive relationship with level of emotional intelligence, indicating that students with better self-esteem and mental health has a greater level of emotional intelligence. This study only covers final year and penultimate year students in a private higher learning institution, hence, the results could not be generalized to all students in Malaysia. If the sample size is larger, more parametric tests can be conducted and the results would be more interesting. Universities, professional bodies or employers may take initiatives to instill the students' self-esteem and mental health in order to enhance their emotional intelligence as they are the future leaders.