This study aimed at determining and validating the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) in a Zambian context. It examined the feasibility of its use in this cultural context. Additionally, the study aimed at examining the reliability of the instrument when used in the same context. The participants were drawn from two cohorts (2016/2017 and 2017/2018 academic years) of first year students from the Department of Mathematic sand Science Education at the Copperbelt University in Zambia. One hundred and seven (25 females and 82 males) students from the 2016/2017 cohort and 138 (47 females and 91males) students from the 2017/2018 cohort participated in the study. The process of validating the instrument involved factor analysis. Using Principal Components Analysis (PCA), the Monte Carlo PCA for Parallel Analysis and Varimax methods for both cohorts, a four factor structure model of the SSEIT was reported. The instrument was reliable with a Cronbach coefficient of 0.79 in the 2016/2017 Cohort and 0.74 in the 2017/2018 Cohort. The study concluded that the SSEIT is a reliable and valid tool to measure the emotional intelligence of first year students from the Department of Mathematic sand Science Education at the Copperbelt University in Zambia.

Endeavors supporting college students’ positive psychosocial development are gaining attention and investment in various countries and social contexts. Higher education experiences provide new academic, social, and vocational advancement opportunities at a critical developmental stage. However, higher education can also cause distress due to the challenges and stressors present during this new stage of increased independence. The Social Emotional Health Survey-Higher Education (SEHS-HE) assesses the core psychosocial strengths of individuals transitioning from secondary schools into institutions of higher education (IHE) to aid campus student support services. The present study sought to extend the SEHS-HE research by examining its application with college student samples from Mexico (n = 4,207), United States (n = 1,638), and Spain (n = 1,734). Confirmatory factor analyses investigated the hypothesized SEHS-HE higher-order factor model. The Mexico sample returned an acceptable model fit, but the USA and Spain samples had a suboptimal fit; hence, we explored alternative models. A two-level structure had full invariance for all three samples. This study extends the current scholarship on the conceptual model and psychometric properties of SEHS-HE. The discussion focuses on implications for future research to enhance SEHS-HE in national and cross-national research and practice.