The Relationship between Spiritual Intelligence and Self-Esteem among High and Ordinary Mental Ability Students in Governmental Intermediate Schools in Kingdom of Bahrain

Abstract

This study aimed to identify the relationship between spiritual intelligence and self-esteem among students with high mental ability and ordinary students in governmental intermediate schools in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The study sample consisted of (375) students. The students with high mental ability were identified according to Raven's matrices test, where the sample of the students with high mental ability were selected from those whose grades fell into the fourth quarter. The number of those students reached (86) male and female students, divided into: 55 females and 31 males. Students whose grades fell into the third and second quarters were considered to be ordinary students. This group of ordinary students consisted of (184) students, divided into 103 females and 81 males. Students whose grades fell into the first quarter, 105 students, were excluded. The researcher applied two scales on the two groups of the research people: spiritual intelligence scale designed by Amram and Dryer (2008) - translated from AlChaoui (2012) and applied to the Saudi setting; it consists of four dimensions. They are awareness and grace; meaning; excellence; and truth. The other scale is of self-esteem prepared by Helmrich and Ervin, (Arabized by Adel Abdullah; 1997).

The data analysis showed a strong positive correlation between spiritual intelligence and self-esteem for students with high mental ability, which indicates that the high level of spiritual intelligence among students with high mental ability increases and improves their self-esteem. As for ordinary students, spiritual intelligence has been correlated with their self-esteem at a medium level, which indicates that the medium level of spiritual intelligence of those students leads to a medium and relative improvement in their level of self-esteem. Hence, it can be concluded that the mental intelligence may help to increase the relationship between spiritual intelligence and self-esteem for students with high mental ability more than for the ordinary students.