DEVELOPMENT OF SPIRITUAL INTELLIGENCE AND SELF-IDENTITY AMONG ADOLESCENTS: A STUDY OF GENDER DIFFERENCE

Self-identity is an important life skill of adolescents. Researchers have observed that the skill of reflecting on the experiences of life, which is related to one's spiritual intelligence, is helpful in the development of positive self-identity. Hence, the present research was carried out to understand the development of spiritual intelligence and self-identity among adolescent boys and girls and thereby examine the mediating role of spiritual intelligence in the development of self-identity. Participants in the study were 360 college students in equal numbers from boys and girls belonging to early, middle, and late adolescent period. Four-core abilities of spiritual intelligence namely; critical existential thinking, personal meaning production, transcendental awareness, and conscious state expansion were measured. Like-wise, personal, relational, social, and collective self-identities were measured. The results showed that girls are better than boys in the development of both spiritual intelligence and positive self-identity. Further, spiritual intelligence significantly and positively predicted each of the domains of self-identity.