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Despite the importance of emotional intelligence (EI) for academic performance of university students with disabilities, limited research was undertaken to address this issue.
This research investigates the impact of EI on quality of life (QoL) and academic performance among university students with disabilities. Drawn on Salovey and Mayer’s EI framework, this research examines the impact of four main EI dimensions: self-emotion appraisal, others’ emotion appraisal, use of emotion, and regulation of emotion, on academic success through the lens of QoL.
A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was employed, including a sample of 328 university students with several types of disabilities. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to analyze the obtained data and test the justified hypothesized relationships.
The results demonstrate that the higher levels of EI are significantly related to improved QoL, which consequently has a positive impact on students’ academic performance. The results confirmed that QoL demonstrated partial mediating effects in the relationship between EI and academic achievements, signaling that EI can contribute to academic success both directly and indirectly by fostering students’ overall QoL.
The study contributed to the current literature by emphasizing the interconnections of emotional competences, quality of life, and academic performance, and provided practical implications for interventions aimed at supporting this vulnerable population.
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Recently, emotional intelligence (EI) has acquired significant attention in different contexts including educational psychology, specifically regarding its potential impact on academic performance (
The mediating impact of QoL in the path from EI to academic performance is a promising area of further research, which is the focus of this research. It is suggested that EI can contribute to enhance QoL by fostering individuals’ coping strategies, social connections, and overall QoL, which consequently can positively impact academic achievements (
Saudi Arabia (SA) has exerted intensive efforts to enhance the educational context of students with disabilities, consistent with its SA Vision’s 2030 main objectives to foster inclusivity and equity in the higher education context
To fulfill the purpose of this paper, it is started with brief introduction highlighting the research problem and its purpose. It is then followed by exploring the impact of EI on QoL and academic performance among students with disabilities. Hence, the theoretical background and hypotheses justification were explored. The research methodology adopted was then discussed including the study measures and instrument development, respondents’ selection, and employed data analysis techniques. In the results part, the paper reported statistical analyses investigating the connections between EI, QoL and academic performance. Following this, the discussion section interpreted these results and explored their theoretical and practical implications. Finally, the conclusion section summarized the whole paper and provided directions for further research avenues.
The
Empirical evidence has constantly shown a positive interplay between EI and academic outcomes, signaling that EI can contribute to improving the students’ ability to handle stress, be motivated, and engaged efficiently with their studies (
Integrating the previous frameworks, we can hypothesis that EI can impact academic success directly and indirectly through its influence on QoL. University Students with higher level of EI are better trained to handle their emotions, leading to enhanced QoL, which consequently can improve academic performance. Additionally, fulfilling the psychological demands as explained in SDT may act as mediator in this relationship, as university students with higher level EI are more probably experienced independence, capability, and relatedness, nurturing intrinsic motivation and positive academic outcomes.
EI is a multidimensional construct with four interconnected yet distinctive dimensions: “Self-Emotion Appraisal (SEA), Others’ Emotion Appraisal (OEA), Use of Emotion (UOE), and Regulation of Emotion (ROE).” These four dimensions are fundamental to exploring how people can perceive, can process, and can manage emotional data, which consequently affects several aspects of personal life (
For students with disabilities, the competency to appraise one’s own emotions is focal in handling the extra challenges they encounter.
OEA as the second dimension of EI, describes the people’s competency to perceive and comprehend the others’ emotions. This EI aspect can facilitate effective interpersonal interaction and the structuring of supportive connection (
OEA as a dimension of EI can play a vital role in academic success. A meta-analysis study conducted by
UOE, as an aspect of EI, describes the capacity to employee emotions to enable people cognitive activities (i.e., critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-taking). This competency enables people to employee their emotional states to improve motivation and performance in several duties (1990). For students with disabilities, employing emotions may be predominantly beneficial in managing academic and social problems, thereby enhancing their overall QoL and academic performance. Previous research demonstrated that higher levels of EI, containing the ability to use emotions, are corelated with high levels of QoL. For example, a study conducted by
The capacity to use emotions productively is also related to a high level of academic success. A meta-analysis conducted by
ROE, as a dimension of EI, describes the skill to control and modulate emotional responses in different situations, enabling people to adapt efficiently with stress, adjust to continuously changing circumstances, and sustain emotional balance (
QoL has several aspects, such as improved physical health, well psychological state, high level of independence, social connections, own beliefs, and correlation to salient attributes of the environment (
Research framework. Direct path; Indirect path.
The measures and variables employed were based on an extensive review of previous literature to select reliable and valid scales. To operationalize emotional intelligence (EI), the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS) (
Likewise, academic performance was operationalized by 3 items as suggested by
The General Population and Housing Census conducted in 2024 in KSA stated that around 2% (1.8%) of the total population, representing around 64,800 residents, suffered from some type of disability. The different types of disabilities are hearing disability, mobility limitations, cognitive abilities, visual impairments, self-care challenges, and communication challenges. Conspicuously, higher education students have a significant ratio of this demographic, representing around 58% that are fully enrolled KSA public universities: King Abdulaziz University (1,569 full time students), King Saud University (663), Taibah University (523), Umm Al-Qura University (381), and King Faisal University (330). A convenience sampling approach was selected to collect the required data, and a statistical power analysis with G*Power 3.1 program was conducted to detect the minimum sample size. The results yielded that a minimum of 124 respondents was required to represent the total population adequately. The calculation was based on an effect size (f2 = 0.15), with 5 predictors, and a significance p level of 0.05, and a requested power of 0.95. To facilitate data collection, 30 well trained enumerators were recruited to adequately adopt the ethical research policies, involving obtaining the informed consent form and ensuring the participant’s confidentiality. Out of 550 questionnaires distributed, 328 were retained to be valid, with a response rate of 59%. Invalid and incomplete forms were not analyzed and archived. The final dataset has roughly balanced gender distribution (52% female, 48% male) and students age was ranged from 17 to 24 years old; the highest percentage of students was suffered from mobility disability (50%) following visual impairment (23%), hearing impairments (15%) other disabilities (12%) accordingly. As the same participant answered the dependent and independents questions, common method variance (CMV) might be an issue (
This research followed the ethical guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki. The research was approved by the Deanship of Scientific Research Ethical Committee, King Faisal University (project number: KFU-2025-ETHICS2820, date of approval: 6 September 2024). These guidelines were followed during the research design, data collection and data interpretation to protect the privacy of the respondents.
This study utilized a cross-sectional survey approach employing a structured questionnaire to test the assumed relationships among the study dimensions. This approach is considered adequate as it enabled the gathering of data from a large sample size within a fairly short period of time and allowed the investigation of relationships within PLS-SEM data analysis techniques (
In our study, data analysis was guided by employing “Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling” (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 4 software. The choice of this technique (PLS-SEM) was considered for several methodological advantages (
Pearson’s correlation coefficients.
SEA_1 | SEA_2 | SEA_3 | SEA_4 | OEA_1 | OEA_2 | OEA_3 | OEA_4 | UOE_1 | UOE_2 | UOE_3 | UOE_4 | QOL1 | QOL2 | QOL3 | QOL4 | QOL5 | Perf_1 | Perf_2 | Perf_3 | ROE_1 | ROE_2 | ROE_3 | ROE_4 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 0.7** | 0.6*** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4*** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** |
1 | 0.6*** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | |
1 | 0.5** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | ||
1 | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.2** | 0.4** | 0.4** | |||
1 | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | ||||
1 | 0.7** | 0.6*** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.5** | |||||
1 | 0.6*** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5*** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | ||||||
1 | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.5** | |||||||
1 | 0.6*** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.2** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | ||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.2** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | |||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5*** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | ||||||||||
1 | 0.6*** | 0.6*** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.5** | 0.5** | |||||||||||
1 | 0.6*** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | ||||||||||||
1 | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | |||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.3** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | ||||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.3** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | |||||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.4** | ||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | |||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.4** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | ||||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.6** | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | |||||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.5** | 0.5** | 0.5** | ||||||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.6*** | 0.5** | |||||||||||||||||||||
1 | 0.6*** | ||||||||||||||||||||||
1 |
***: Correlations significant at 0.001;** Correlations significant at 0.01; SEA_1-SEA_4: items employed to measure Self-Emotion Appraisal; OEA_1-OEA_4: items employed to measure Others’ Emotion Appraisal; UOE_1-UOE_4: items employed to measure Use of Emotion; QoL_1-QoL_5: items employed to measure quality of life; Perf_1-Perf_3: item employed to meaure Academic Performance; ROE_1-ROE_4: items employed to measure Regulation of Emotion.
Factor loadings and other psychometric properties.
Factors/ Items | F. L. | α | C. R. | A. V. E | V. I. F. | M | S. D. | Skewness | Kurtosis |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Self-Emotion Appraisal | 0.881 | 0.889 | 0.741 | ||||||
SEA_1 | 0.926 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 1.2 | −0.234- | −1.384- | |||
SEA_2 | 0.932 | 2.3 | 2.8 | 1.2 | −0.203- | −1.382- | |||
SEA_3 | 0.805 | 1.7 | 3.0 | 1.2 | −0.187- | −1.141- | |||
SEA_4 | 0.767 | 1.6 | 3.1 | 1.0 | −0.297- | −0.571- | |||
Others’ Emotion Appraisal | 0.887 | 0.892 | 0.752 | ||||||
OEA_1 | 0.770 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 1.2 | −0.496- | −0.665- | |||
OEA_2 | 0.940 | 1.6 | 3.4 | 1.2 | −0.507- | −0.745- | |||
OEA_3 | 0.938 | 1.5 | 3.4 | 1.2 | −0.507- | −0.742- | |||
OEA_4 | 0.807 | 1.8 | 3.5 | 1.1 | −0.832- | 0.009 | |||
Use of Emotion | 0.840 | 0.845 | 0.675 | ||||||
UOE_1 | 0.827 | 1.8 | 3.2 | 1.3 | −0.485- | −0.871- | |||
UOE_2 | 0.807 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.2 | −0.491- | −0.883- | |||
UOE_3 | 0.829 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.3 | −0.336- | −1.088- | |||
UOE_4 | 0.824 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 1.3 | −0.371- | −0.954- | |||
Regulation of Emotion | 0.853 | 0.855 | 0.694 | ||||||
ROE_1 | 0.817 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.2 | −0.081- | −0.931- | |||
ROE_2 | 0.818 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.1 | −0.217- | −0.850- | |||
ROE_3 | 0.864 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 1.2 | −0.240- | −0.939- | |||
ROE_4 | 0.832 | 1.9 | 3.3 | 1.2 | −0.433- | −0.941- | |||
Quality of Life | 0.819 | 0.822 | 0.580 | ||||||
QOL1 | 0.767 | 1.8 | 3.3 | 1.1 | −0.728- | −0.070- | |||
QOL2 | 0.775 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 1.2 | −0.625- | −0.501- | |||
QOL3 | 0.760 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 1.2 | −0.610- | −0.527- | |||
QOL4 | 0.756 | 1.7 | 3.6 | 1.2 | −0.742- | −0.226- | |||
QOL5 | 0.749 | 1.6 | 3.5 | 1.0 | −0.505- | −0.061- | |||
Academic Performance | 0.792 | 0.792 | 0.706 | ||||||
Acd_Perf_1 | 0.849 | 1.7 | 3.5 | 1.2 | −0.557- | −0.623- | |||
Acd_Perf_2 | 0.845 | 1.7 | 3.4 | 1.1 | −0.323- | −0.935- | |||
Acd_Perf_3 | 0.826 | 1.5 | 3.3 | 1.1 | −0.406- | −0.682- |
F. L., Factor Loading; α, Cronbach Alpha; C. R., Composite reliability; A. V. E., Average Variance Extracted; V. I. F., Variance Inflation Factor; M, Mean; S. D., Standard Deviation.
The evaluation of the study measurement model encompassed assessment of convergent validity, discriminant validity, and reliability. All the study factor loadings are above 0.70, consistent with the threshold recommended by
“Fornell and Larcker.”
Factors/ Items | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1-AP | ||||||
2-OEA | 0.605 | |||||
3-QoL | 0.723 | 0.660 | ||||
4-ROE | 0.768 | 0.580 | 0.721 | |||
5-SEA | 0.648 | 0.549 | 0.701 | 0.667 | ||
6-UOE | 0.638 | 0.578 | 0.755 | 0.668 | 0.707 |
AP, Academic Performance; OEA, Others’ Emotion Appraisal; QoL, Use of Emotion; ROE, Regulation of Emotion; SEA, Self-Emotion Appraisal; UOE, Use of Emotion.Bold values indicates the square roots of AVEs.
“Heterotrait-monotrait ratio” (HTMT) - Matrix.
Factors/ Items | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1-AP | ||||||
2-OEA | 0.724 | |||||
3-QoL | 0.789 | 0.772 | ||||
4-ROE | 0.735 | 0.666 | 0.757 | |||
5-SEA | 0.773 | 0.624 | 0.726 | 0.764 | ||
6-UOE | 0.777 | 0.665 | 0.797 | 0.783 | 0.716 |
AP, Academic Performance; OEA, Others’ Emotion Appraisal; QoL, Use of Emotion; ROE, Regulation of Emotion; SEA, Self-Emotion Appraisal; UOE, Use of Emotion.
Factor cross loadings.
Factors/ Items | AP | OEA | QoL | ROE | SEA | UOE |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acd_Perf_1 | 0.537 | 0.639 | 0.641 | 0.523 | 0.549 | |
Acd_Perf_2 | 0.519 | 0.632 | 0.618 | 0.565 | 0.585 | |
Acd_Perf_3 | 0.469 | 0.552 | 0.677 | 0.545 | 0.475 | |
OEA_1 | 0.524 | 0.544 | 0.508 | 0.519 | 0.532 | |
OEA_2 | 0.536 | 0.605 | 0.515 | 0.466 | 0.501 | |
OEA_3 | 0.542 | 0.609 | 0.534 | 0.481 | 0.512 | |
OEA_4 | 0.494 | 0.526 | 0.450 | 0.436 | 0.456 | |
QOL1 | 0.467 | 0.541 | 0.471 | 0.586 | 0.628 | |
QOL2 | 0.649 | 0.576 | 0.562 | 0.529 | 0.654 | |
QOL3 | 0.451 | 0.458 | 0.535 | 0.469 | 0.562 | |
QOL4 | 0.597 | 0.462 | 0.599 | 0.557 | 0.582 | |
QOL5 | 0.562 | 0.466 | 0.571 | 0.524 | 0.434 | |
ROE_1 | 0.654 | 0.451 | 0.508 | 0.534 | 0.502 | |
ROE_2 | 0.615 | 0.424 | 0.582 | 0.515 | 0.500 | |
ROE_3 | 0.640 | 0.452 | 0.653 | 0.604 | 0.619 | |
ROE_4 | 0.650 | 0.599 | 0.650 | 0.567 | 0.594 | |
SEA_1 | 0.595 | 0.496 | 0.628 | 0.615 | 0.622 | |
SEA_2 | 0.604 | 0.515 | 0.621 | 0.632 | 0.648 | |
SEA_3 | 0.578 | 0.425 | 0.601 | 0.596 | 0.628 | |
SEA_4 | 0.439 | 0.452 | 0.563 | 0.436 | 0.527 | |
UOE_1 | 0.535 | 0.458 | 0.597 | 0.579 | 0.562 | |
UOE_2 | 0.453 | 0.405 | 0.527 | 0.499 | 0.519 | |
UOE_3 | 0.529 | 0.481 | 0.645 | 0.562 | 0.597 | |
UOE_4 | 0.567 | 0.539 | 0.692 | 0.549 | 0.632 |
AP, Academic Performance; OEA, Others’ Emotion Appraisal; QoL, Use of Emotion; ROE, Regulation of Emotion; SEA, Self-Emotion Appraisal; UOE, Use of Emotion.Bold values indicates item loading to its factor.
Several key criteria can be employed to evaluate the structural model predictive and explanatory capacities, as suggested by
The research model.
After testing the reliability and validity of the developed measurement model and the designed structural model, the hypothesis testing phase can be initiated. As shown in
Hypotheses testing and related
Path coeffecients |
|
|
|
Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|
Self-Emotion Appraisal - > Quality of Life | 0.174 | 3.253 | 0.001 | H1: Supported |
Self-Emotion Appraisal - > Academic Performance | 0.108 | 1.972 | 0.049 | H2: Supported |
Slelf-Emotion Appraisal - > Quality of Life - > Academic Performance | 0.040 | 2.793 | 0.005 | H3: Supported |
Others’ Emotion Appraisal - > Quality of Life | 0.227 | 6.220 | 0.000 | H4: Supported |
Others’ Emotion Appraisal - > Academic Performance | 0.125 | 2.599 | 0.009 | H5: Supported |
Others’ Emotion Appraisal - > Quality of Life - > Academic Performance | 0.052 | 3.490 | 0.000 | H6: Supported |
Use of Emotion - > Quality of Life | 0.334 | 7.363 | 0.000 | H7: Supported |
Use of Emotion - > Academic Performance | 0.019 | 0.333 | 0.739 | H8: Rejected |
Use of Emotion - > Quality of Life - > Academic Performance | 0.077 | 3.432 | 0.001 | H9: Supported |
Regulation of Emotion - > Quality of Life | 0.251 | 6.022 | 0.000 | H10: Supported |
Regulation of Emotion - > Academic Performance | 0.444 | 7.252 | 0.000 | H11: Supported |
Regulation of Emotion - > Quality of Life - > Academic Performance | 0.058 | 3.519 | 0.000 | H12: Supported |
Quality of Life - > Academic Performance | 0.230 | 4.367 | 0.000 | H13: Supported |
The PLS-SEM results indicated that self-emotional appraisal (as a dimension of emotional intelligence) was found to have a direct positive influence on student QOL (
The results of this research highlighted the focal role of EI in improving not only QoL but also the academic performance of the students with disabilities in KSA. The positive significant associations that were detected between several EI dimensions and the students’ QoL and academic achievements highlighted the multifaceted advantages of EI in educational context. Notably, SEA positively impacted both QoL and academic performance. This proposes that university students who are skilled at identifying and understanding their self-emotions are capable of equipping to mitigate the challenges related to their disabilities, resulting in enhanced overall life satisfaction and academic achievements. These results are consistent with previous evidence that reported self-awareness as a critical dimension of EI that can contribute to superior psychological adjustment and academic success (
Interestingly, UOE, the third employed dimension of EI, strongly and significantly impacted QoL but failed to significantly influence the students’ academic performance. This result indicated that while the capacity to exploit emotions can improve student’ well-being, it cannot directly be translated to improved academic achievements. This discrepancy can be explained by some external factors such as the ease of use of the university academic support services and accommodations, which can play a key role in the academic performance of students with disabilities (
The PLS-SEM report also showed some evidence regarding the specific indirect effects. The results showed that QoL can significantly mediate the impacts of all four dimensions EI on academic performance. While UOE did not demonstrate a significant direct impact on academic performance, it positively impacted QoL, which consequently impacted academic success. This result highlighted the key intermediary role of QoL between EI and academic performance. This mediation effects confirm the assumption made by the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions (
University students with disabilities frequently face unique circumstances that can influence their emotional welfare and academic performance. The students’ abilities to appraise and regulate their emotions (SEA and ROE) can improve the overall QoL by improving recovery strategies, which drive academic success and engagement. These results are aligned with previous evidence that EI can contribute to a higher psychological well-being and academic achievement level through improved student self-efficacy and resilience (
This study explored the impacts of the four aspects of Emotional Intelligence EI (SEA, OEA, UOE, and ROE) on academic performance, with QoL acting as a mediator among university students with disabilities in KSA. The findings highlighted the key role of EI in improving this vulnerable student population’s QoL and academic achievements. The results indicated that all four dimensions of EI can positively impact QoL, consequently improving academic outcomes. Conspicuously, while UOE failed to directly and significantly foster academic performance, its positive impact on QoL enabled the indirect effects on academic success. This highlights the significant role of QoL as an instrument through which emotional capabilities are transferred into academic achievements.
Aligning with the goals of KSA Vision 2030, which highlights inclusive learning and the empowerment of people with disabilities, specifically it aligned with the “Human Capability Development Program,” which highlights the inclusive education and the empowerment of people with disabilities. By signifying the significant key role of EI in improving academic success and QoL, the study highpoints a practical pathway for attaining Vision 2030 objectives. Additionally, the current study results have several significant implications. Including EI development procedures in the higher education context could act as a strategic program to strengthen the QoL and academic success of students with disabilities. Such programs will be consistent with the national educational agenda and promote a deep, inclusive, supportive academic context. Additionally, decision makers in KSA universities should apply comprehensive support approaches centered on academic performance and fostering students’ life satisfaction and social integration. This holistic system can lead to a high level of academic achievements, principally for students with disabilities who may face extra barriers. Policymakers should also consider models that combine EI training and QoL programs into the educational environment to facilitate equal opportunities for academic success among all segments of students.
As highlighted earlier this research adopted self-reporting survey using convenience sampling from students with disabilities, hence, there are some limitations of the research due to its cross-sectional and sampling design. Further research avenues should explore the long-term impacts of EI on QoL and academic success of students with disabilities. A longitudinal research approach can offer a better understanding of the sustainability of such relationships and their impact over time. Additionally, expanding the model to include various educational contexts, socioeconomic factors, environmental, pedagogical factors and student segments can improve the generalizability of results and inform best procedures in inclusive education. Furthermore, this paper did not investigate the diversity within the student population in terms of disability type, severity, or the level of support received. These variables may moderate the tested relationships. Future research should include them as moderating variables, which would offer a wider insight into the precise requirements and strengths of diverse groups of students with disabilities. Finally, although the current study revealed positive associations between EI, QoL, and AP among university students with disabilities, it is important to acknowledge that the efficiency of EI interventions in improving academic consequences in this specific population needs more empirical evidence. Consequently, while our results suggest a potential pathway for intervention, future empirical evidence is needed to assess the influence of targeted EI programs within the SA context.
The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.
The studies involving humans were approved by The Deanship of Scientific Research Ethical Committee, King Faisal University (approval no: KFU-2025-ETHICS2820, date of approval: 6 September 2024). The studies were conducted in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. The participants provided their written informed consent to participate in this study.
IE: Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Software, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. AS: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. MA: Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Writing – original draft. AA: Conceptualization, Data curation, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft. MK: Conceptualization, Writing – original draft.
The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research and/or publication of this article. The authors extend their appreciation to the King Salman Center for Disability Research for funding this work through Research Group no KSRG-2024-268.
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The authors declare that no Gen AI was used in the creation of this manuscript.
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