Level of Spiritual Intelligence and Personality among Secondary School Students

< 25 > *Corresponding Author: Shabnum Perween Level of Spiritual Intelligence and Personality among Secondary School Students *1Shabnum Perween and 2Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed I Patel *1Research Scholar, School of Education and Training, MANUU, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. 2Professor, Department of Education, DDE, MANUU, Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Abstract Spiritual intelligence (SI) deals with the complex concept of meaning and value, consider as the highest level of intelligence. With high spiritual intelligence a person can think out of the box and take complex decision. Religiosity and SI are two different concepts, a highly religious person be spiritually low and a humanistic person can be highly religious. But, day by day SI is lacking in the society which directly affect the behaviour and higher thinking ability of young minds. Person’s behaviour and thinking capacity are important components of personality. So, this study aims to know the level of spiritual intelligence and personality of adolescents. For this, a sample of secondary school students was selected from some randomly selected schools (WBBSE & CBSE) of Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal. Descriptive survey method was followed to conduct the study. For this, two scales were administered to the participants related to spiritual intelligence and personality to gather the relevant information (data). Collected data was manually uploaded to the excel sheet and then analyse according to the objectives of the study. Analysis revealed difference in the level of spiritual intelligence and personality in male and female as well as WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. Keywords: Spiritual intelligence, personality, adolescents. Introduction Spiritual intelligence (SI) is the highest type of intelligence, as it involves comprehending how activities and ways of living fit into a larger framework and provide purpose in one's life. (Agus Nalanda Wijanata et al., 2024). Spiritual intelligence is an integration of spiritual qualities and interests, personal characteristics, specialized cognitive abilities, and psychological processes. Spiritual intelligence can address existential and supernatural questions (Sultan et al., 2017). Spiritual intelligence (SI) includes four abilities as, Existential and critical reflection explores life, death, afterlife, reality, justice, and other supernatural topics. Second, developing a customized concept involves setting personal goals based on mental experiences and behaving accordingly. Third, transcendental knowledge refers to the ability to recognize transcendental and supernatural aspects of oneself, others, and the universe. Extending knowledge involves accessing spiritual or higher consciousness realms. Psychologists have identified eight elements of spiritual intelligence which, include patience, spiritual and religious convictions, life meaning and purpose, prioritization, internal tranquillity, spiritual experiences, self-recognition, and forgiveness. (Agus Nalanda Wijanata et al., 2024). With a high SQ, a person can leave their life in a more expansive, deeper, and meaningful context. In a study, the author defines IQ as the qualifying entry test in an institution, EQ as the successful life, and SQ as the meaningful life. SQ is our compass "at the edge". Problems that arise outside of the expected and known conditions are the most difficult; the person does not know 'how to tackle'. According to chaos theory, 'the edge' is the boundary between a systematic and completely dispersed environment, or a known and unfamiliar condition. It (the edge) is where the person must be more creative; here, the individual can be guided by the SQ, which stands for sense of meaning and values. Important characteristics of spiritual intelligent individual is, the capacity to be flexible, high degree of self-awareness, the quality of being inspired by vision and values, ask why? or what if? And field independent. Spiritual intelligence affects both the cognitive and non-cognitive aspect of human beings. Cognitive aspect includes different kinds of intelligences while non-cognitive aspect includes personality. Personality is the collection of permanent characteristics and patterns that shape a person's behaviour, ideas, and emotions. The Big Five Personality Traits (OCEAN) are commonly employed in research. Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, International Journal of Research in Academic World Received: 22/September/2025 IJRAW: 2025; 4(11):25-28 Accepted: 02/November/2025 Impact Factor (SJIF): 6.126 E-ISSN: 2583-1615, P-ISSN: 3049-3498 < 26 > https://academicjournal.ijraw.com IJRAW Agreeableness and Neuroticism. Openness to Experience are highly extraverted people are forceful and social, as opposed to quiet and reserved. Agreeable people are cooperative and polite, as opposed to hostile and nasty. Conscientious people prioritize work completion and organization over distractions and disorganization. Neurotic people tend to experience unpleasant feelings like worry, despair, and irritability, rather than being emotionally resilient. Highly open persons have many interests, appreciate art and beauty, and choose fresh experiences over monotony (Mahasneh et al., 2015). How the Personality Traits Linked to Spiritual Intelligence Personality traits that are often based on the "Big Five" model, can be linked to different aspects of spiritual intelligence. Table 1 Big Five Trait How It Relates to Spiritual Intelligence Openness to Experience Individuals with high openness exhibit greater curiosity, imagination, and acceptance to abstrac t thinking, facilitating spiritual reflection, transcendence, and the exploration of life's deeper meanings. Conscientiousness SI emphasizes spiritual discipline, ethical purity, and meaningful living. Such people are more likely to behave in accordance with their values. Extraversion This may have to do with how someone shares their spiritual beliefs with others (for example, in a group or as a leader), but introverts can also be quite spiritual in a more private way. The connection is contextual rather than causal. Agreeableness Very closely connected as Empathy, compassion, and a desire for harmonious relationships are key parts of SI, especially when it comes to how people treat each other and comprehend how everything is connected. Neuroticism There is an inverse association because people with high spiritual intelligence tend to be better at controlling their emotions, being resilient, and finding inner peace, whereas people with high neuroticism tend to have lower levels of these things. Objectives of the Study i). To study the level of spiritual intelligence of male and female secondary school students. ii). To study the level of spiritual intelligence of WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. iii). To study the level of personality traits of male and female secondary school students. iv). To study the level of personality traits of WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. Operational Definition of the Key Terms: • Spiritual Intelligence: Spiritual intelligence is the highest level of intellectual intelligence since it involves understanding how activities and methods of living fit into a bigger framework and create meaning in one's life. The present study focuses on to know the level of spiritual intelligence of secondary school students. • Personality Traits: Personality is the set of traits and patterns that stay the same throughout time and affect how someone thinks, feels, and acts. The present study examines the personality traits of secondary school students. • Adolescents: Adolescence represents the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, typically occurring from ages 10 to 19, and the individual who comes under this age groups generally consider as adolescents. • Delimitations of the Study: i). Study is limited to WBBSE and CBSE secondary schools of Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal only. ii). Data is collected only from class X students. Population, Sample and Sampling Technique of the Study: All the secondary school students studying in Paschim Bardhaman district of west Bengal was the population of the study from which 412 secondary school students were selected as the sample of the study by multi stage stratified random sampling technique. • Methodology of the Research: For the present study descriptive survey method was followed as the data were collected with the help of questionnaires from the participants. The data were analysed with the help of quantitative data analysis. • Scales Used for Data Collection: Two scales were administered to the sample to collect data as describe below, i). Spiritual Intelligence Scale: SI scale was designed and standardised be the investigators. ii). Personality Scale: Five factor trait inventory (FTPI) personality scale designed by KS Mishra. • Data Collection Procedure: The data were collected by approaching the head and principles of the selected WBBSE and CBSE schools of Paschim Bardhaman (WB). Table 2: Presentation of data ready for analysis: Board of education WBBSE 205 412 CBSE 207 Gender Male 225 412 Female 187 Table 2 explain about the data ready for analysis after removing out the unfilled and half-filled scales. Here, 412 data is considered valid for analysis and interpretation. Data is divided into two strata i.e. i) Board of education, WBBSE (205) and CBSE (207) & ii) Gender, male (225) and female (207). So, the complete data taken into consideration is 412. Data Analysis and Findings Raw data were uploaded manually to the excel sheet and then analyse quantitatively by using percentage (%). Following tables are the outcome of the analysed data. < 27 > https://academicjournal.ijraw.com IJRAW Objective 1: To study the level of spiritual intelligence of male and female secondary school students. Fig 1: level of SI (Male students) Fig 2: level of SI (Female students) Above figure 1 & 2 represent the level of spiritual intelligence in male and female secondary school students. In figure 1, it can be clearly seen that 20% of male students have high level of spiritual intelligence, 47% have moderate and 32% have low level of spiritual intelligence. Similarly, in figure 2, it can be observed that 34% of female students have high level of spiritual intelligence, 47% have moderate level and 18% have low level of spiritual intelligence. Objective 2: To study the level of spiritual intelligence of WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. Fig 3: level of SI (WBBSE students) Fig 4: level of SI (CBSE students) Figure 3 & 4 shows the level of spiritual intelligence of WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. Figure 3 indicates that 32% of WBBSE secondary school students have high level of spiritual intelligence, 46% have moderate level and 22% of students have high level of spiritual intelligence. Whereas, in figure 4, it can be observe that 21% of CBSE students have high level of spiritual intelligence, 49% have moderate level and 29% of students have low level of spiritual intelligence. Objective 3: To study the level of personality traits of male and female secondary school students. Fig 5: level of personality (Male students) Fig 6 level of personality (Female students) < 28 > https://academicjournal.ijraw.com IJRAW Above figure 5 & 6 represent the level of personality in male and female secondary school students. In figure 5, it can be clearly seen that 15% of male students have high level of personality, 48% have moderate and 35% have low level of personality. Similarly, in figure 2, it can be observed that 38% of female students have high level of personality, 46% have moderate level and 16% have low level of personality. Objective 4: To study the level of personality traits of WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. Fig 7: level of personality (WBBSE students) Fig 8: level of personality (CBSE students) Above figure 7 & 8 represent the level of personality in WBBSE and CBSE secondary school students. In figure 7, it can be clearly seen that 21% of WBBSE students have high level of personality, 49% have moderate and 30% have low level of personality. Similarly, in figure 8, it can be observed that 27% of CBSE students have high level of personality, 51% have moderate level and 22% have low level of personality. Discussion of the Above Analysis This study explored about the level of spiritual intelligence and personality of adolescents in the current digital scenario. Result as shown above revealed that more number of female participant has high level of spiritual intelligence in comparison to their counterparts. Whereas, when come to the WBBSE and CBSE students, more number of WBBSE students has high level of spiritual intelligence in comparison to the CBSE secondary school students. So, on the basis of the findings there is need to improve the spiritual intelligence of adolescents and for this there is need to an integrated societal and academic effort. Also, when looked into the results of personality, it can be observed that more number of female students have more developed personality than the male students. On the other hand, more number of CBSE students have highly developed personality than their counterpart. So, it can be said that WBBSE students need training for the development of their personality. Educational Implication This study aid in improving the spiritual intelligence and development of personality of adolescents. in the context of achieving these goals there is need to change in educational policies and its implementation in classroom. By these nation can make more strong young minds to compete globally. References 1. Agus Nalanda Wijanata, Sidartha Adi Gautama, Komang Sutawan, Widiyanto, Eko Pramono, Widi Astuti, & Susanto. How Does an Education-based Buddhist Morality Serve as a Foundation to Enhance the Spiritual Intelligence of Teenage Students? International Journal of Science and Applied Science, 2024, 8. 2. Mahasneh AM, Shammout NA, Alkhazaleh ZM, AlAlwan AF & Abu-Eita JD. The relationship between spiritual intelligence and personality traits among Jordanian university students. Taylor & Francis. 2015; 8:89–97. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S76352 3. Sultan S, Khan MA & Kanwal F. Spiritual intelligence linking to leadership effectiveness: interceding role of personality traits. International Journal of Social Sciences. 2017; 3(2):599–613.