Impact of Birth-Order and Emotional Intelligence on the Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Ibadan, Oyo State

This study investigated the effect of birth order and emotional intelligence on the academic performance of secondary school students in Ibadan, Oyo State.This study adopted a descriptive survey design. Using simple random sampling, a sample of 200 students was randomly selected from all registered secondary school students within Ibadan North Local Government Area, Oyo State. Two research questions were raised and answered in this study. The Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (0.93) and birth order scale (0.74) were administered on the participants. Data collected were analysed, using Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) and multiple regression analysis. The results indicated that the correlation coefficients between all the variables were significant with the exception of birth order and academic performance. Age, gender and emotional intelligence were significant predictors of academic performance of the participants. Furthermore, 32.2% of the total variance in the academic performance of the participants is accounted for by the combination of the independent variables. Based on the findings, it was recommended that secondary school students should be encouraged to become more enlightened with working principles of age, gender, birth-order and emotional intelligence.