The Relationship of Interpersonal and Leadership Skills with Empathic Understanding among Malaysian Gifted Students

Abstract

Gifted students have always been considered as individuals who absorb with their own world; and sometimes are lacking in interpersonal skills and empathic understanding which prevent them to live comfortably within the society.  This study was conducted in order to examine eight dimension of interpersonal skills and their relationships with empathic understanding among Malaysian gifted students. The study used a survey method and data was collected using an instrument called the Malaysian Emotional Quotient Inventory (MEQI) from a total of 240 (male=81, female=159) respondents, aged 15 years old from the PERMATApintar™ College, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Overall findings show that all dimension of interpersonal skills studied correlate positively with empathy (p < 0.00, n = 240) and the r values for all dimensions are more than 0.60. Similarly, findings from the study show that all domains of empathy correlate positively with leadership skills.  The r values for all correlations are from 0.253 to 0.788 (p < 0.01). Empathy domains that have the strong correlation with leadership skills are political awareness, followed by leveraging diversity, developing other’s potential, caring and helping others. Based on the findings, implications toward the unique provision of counseling services and self-development programs for local gifted students’ population were discussed.

Keywords

• empathy; gifted students; interpersonal skills; leadership skills; Malaysia

References

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