Moral Intelligence and its Relation to the Control Locus among Gifted and Ordinary Adolescents in Bahrain’s Public Schools

Abstract

This study aims to explore the relationship between moral intelligence and the control locus in a sample of gifted and ordinary adolescents in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study consists of 125 gifted adolescents )55 males - 70 females) and 160 ordinary adolescents (75 males - 85 females) randomly selected from Bahrain’s public schools. In this research, two scales are adopted. The first is the MQ scale which is prepared by the researcher. It consists of five dimensions: sympathy, conscience, restraint, tolerance, and respect. The second scale is the Locus of Control which is prepared by Ibrahim Abulhadi )2011(. The study shows that there is a positive relationship between Moral Intelligence and the Locus of Control for the gifted and the ordinary adolescents. It also shows that the gifted adolescents have higher intelligence compared to the ordinary adolescents. Their locus of control is internal although the ordinary adolescents have proved to have an external locus of control. Unlike the females, the research indicates that both gifted and ordinary males both have internal locus of control. The research concludes with some recommendations, such as conducting research, developing similar studies at different stages, balancing the results, extracting studies on the development of moral intelligence in adolescence, and investing in the school environments, lectures, seminars and activities to develop moral intelligence.