Research on emotional competence development (ECD) in university students is scarce and shows mixed results. This research establishes what is possible to expect from an optional self-leadership program (SLP) consisting of eight workshops of three hours each, and with a student-centered and experiential approach. The research method was a mixed DEXPLIS design (n=126), which is quasi-experimental ex-post-facto for the first quantitative phase, with experimental and control groups where the CDE A35 self-informed instrument of Bisquerra and Pérez-Escoda was administered, and with participation in qualitative interviews in the second phase. The results indicate global progress in ECD, more evident in intrapersonal emotional competence (EC), although the SLP has not been effective in interpersonal EC. The students perceive their ECD as being very important. In the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), ECD is part of the acquisition of generic or transversal competences, which contribute to more effective and integral training, as well as to a better preparation for the world of work.

There is little research on the effectiveness of self-leadership programs (SLPs) in graduate education based on the progress in emotional competences development (ECD), and only a few of the studies incorporate its relationship with personality traits (PTs). This article studies the differentiated impact of an optional SLP, which has eight workshops with a learner-centered and experiential approach, depending on PTs. With a quasi-experimental ex post facto design, students' scores in EDC were analyzed according to their PT extremes: introversion, antagonism, lack of direction, neuroticism, and closed to experience. ANCOVA tests, with ECD pretest as a co-variable, were applied for each PT. The results indicated that the SLP presented a differentiated impact in ECD in four of the five PTs: neuroticism, introversion, antagonism, and lack of direction. These findings can be a key element for the participating students in SLPs because self-leadership requires self-knowledge. ECD can contribute to more integral learning in the graduate education experience, enhancing the preparation for the world of work.

Resulta habitual que el alumnado universitario desconozca las implicaciones que supone tener una personalidad extravertida o introvertida en el desarrollo de su particular autoliderazgo. La presente investigación tiene por objetivo analizar los efectos de un Programa de Autoliderazgo (PAL), compuesto de ocho talleres y con un enfoque de aprendizaje experiencial, en aquellos participantes (nivel máster) que tienen un rasgo de personalidad introvertida; teniendo por finalidad que se puedan beneficiar de una experiencia y desarrollo más efectivos e integrales, y de una mejor preparación para el mundo laboral. Para ello, y utilizando un diseño cuasi experimental y otro ex post facto (n=126), se aplican: a) la subescala de extraversión del Modelo Big 5, y b) el Modelo de Bisquerra y Pérez-Escoda, para constatar el Desarrollo de las Competencias Emocionales (DCE). Se comparan cuatro tipos de alumnado: extravertidos o introvertidos formados (PAL-SI), o no formados (PAL-NO), dándose dos grupos de resultados: a) los basados en la prueba ANOVA. En los que se concluye que el alumnado introvertido PAL-SI obtiene peores puntuaciones que los extravertidos PAL-SI también; si bien los primeros recuperan terreno con respecto a los extravertidos PAL-NO (Grupo de Control) en: Autonomía Emocional (AE) y Bienestar Emocional (BE); y b) los soportados por la prueba ANCOVA, en los que se revela un impacto positivo y diferenciado en el grupo de introvertidos PAL-SI con respecto al grupo de introvertidos PAL-NO en: DCE Total, Consciencia Emocional (CoE), y Regulación Emocional (RE).