• Korean Journal of Child Studies
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.29-43
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• 2005

Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept and little research to date has examined age differences. In order to examine developmental patterns in emotional intelligence(En, the Emotional Intelligence Test for Children(EITC, Lee, 2003) was administered to 367 children, 4- to 8-years of age. Data were analyzed by Multivariate Analysis of Variance(MANOVA) and post hoc univariate analyses of variables. Results showed significant differences by age in total and sub-total scores of EITC. When the means of test scores were presented graphically as developmental curves, EI totals and sub-scores showed the increases in EI that occurred with increased maturity. Additional research is needed to verify developmental models of EI and to explore which factors have an effect on EI.