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A recent independent study of 40 former National Football League playersshows they struggle with life success issues such as addiction, depression,financial woes, and violence, but players with high "emotional intelligence"have far fewer of these challenges. The research suggests that if teams trainplayers in emotional intelligence they will be winners for life.
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The study shows retired players' emotional intelligence is highlypredictive of life success (including health, relationships, drug/alcohol use,and quality of life), finding over 60% in the variation of these importantfactors are predicted by emotional intelligence scores.
Amid ongoing concerns about players' off-field behavior, the study caughtthe attention of the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA).NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw responded, "The study highlights keyissues facing our players and other professional athletes and offers insightinto the solution. We're committed to ensuring our members play well on thefield and off, and getting our players the skills they need to truly succeedin the game and more importantly the game of life."
The study also found that compared to a sample group, the former NFLplayers scored almost 15% lower in the life success scale. Former linebackerand study co-author Marvin Smith explains, "Despite the money and prestige oftheir pro-ball careers, athletes are facing serious challenges -- it's atragic waste that can easily be prevented by teaching some basic emotionalintelligence skills."
Smith, a Human Behavior Specialist is part of Sportstech International( http://www.sportstechonline.com/ ), a company working to bring "EQ" skillsto athletics in partnership with the world leaders in emotional intelligencedevelopment, a nonprofit called Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Networkhttp://www.6seconds.org.
Upshaw concludes: "We're learning that emotional intelligence is animportant ingredient in helping professional athletes live healthy andsuccessful lives, so we're looking forward to have the study expanded, andusing the information to focus on areas of development."
The study is available online at http://www.6seconds.org/NFL/
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SOURCE Six Seconds Emotional Intelligence Network
