Abstract:
The Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory was translated into Pedi, and then submitted to an expert in Pedi to check the language before being administered to 30 Grade 9 Pedi first-language students to identify potentially vague instructions and/or items. 800 students in Grades 9 and 11 in schools in the Sekhukhuneland, Nebo and Apel regions of the Limpopo Province of South Africa completed the English and Pedi versions of the inventory in 2004. The mean age in Grade 11 was 18.3 yrs (SD = 1.84), and Grade 9 16.2 yrs (SD = 1.64). Whereas unsatisfactory
reliabilities of the anticipated factors were obtained, exploratory factor analysis with oblique (direct oblimin) rotation yielded a factor structure that did not correspond satisfactorily with the factor structure yielded by a North American sample. More research is needed before the Bar-On Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (English and Pedi version) can be used in South Africa.
