The Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test in allied health sciences students: reliability, essential unidimensionality, and educational and behavioral correlates: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Introduction Emotional intelligence (EI) is an individual-difference characteristic relevant to how health-professions students learn, cope, and engage with support, making its valid measurement a prerequisite for research on student development in this field. This study examined the psychometric performance and educational and behavioral correlates of the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) in allied health sciences undergraduates at Kuwait University. Methods In this cross-sectional study, the 33-item SSEIT was administered in English, the language of instruction and assessment at the Faculty, through a confidential online survey. Of 561 responses, 559 remained after duplicate removal and 489 after excluding 70 invariant (straight-line) responders, following the screening pipeline of a companion study on the same administration. Reliability, ordinal confirmatory factor analysis (WLSMV) with bifactor indices, polychoric parallel analysis, split-half validation, and exploratory correlates with Holm correction were examined. Results The total score was highly reliable ( α = .96, 95% CI [.95, .96]; ordinal ω = .97). Under the primary ordinal-appropriate estimator (WLSMV), all candidate structures fit acceptably (one-factor CFI = .952; four-factor plus reverse-item method factor CFI = .967, RMSEA = .065), and bifactor indices supported essential unidimensionality of the total score (ECV = .87; ω H = .94; 29 of 33 items loading ≥ .40 on the general factor), a structure reproduced in split-half validation. Polychoric parallel analysis retained two factors, with a dominant first eigenvalue (16.96 vs. 1.93). The three reverse-keyed items remained misaligned after screening, consistent with a residual reverse-wording method effect and possible second-language response processes. Among exploratory correlates, only prior EI-workshop attendance (d = 0.56) and marital status (d = 0.79, very small group) survived Holm correction; GPA differences were nominal only, and a regression model explained modest variance (adjusted R² = .07), robust to heteroscedasticity-consistent estimation. Discussion The SSEIT total score shows promise as a reliable, essentially unidimensional research measure of self-reported EI in this population; facet scores, individual-level screening, and wellbeing monitoring are not supported by the present evidence.