Spiritual Intelligence

Spiritual intelligence (SQ) is the latest addition to the list of intelligences. This study investigates the nature of spiritual intelligence and its link to ethnic identity, and gauges the difference across the main ethnic groups in Mauritius: Hindu-Mauritians, Creole-Mauritians, and Muslim-Mauritians. A new scale, the Multicultural Spiritual Intelligence Scale (MSIS) was proposed, using six dimensions: self-awareness, transcendental awareness, levels of consciousness, the quest for meaning, sensitivity, and resilience. The MSIS was developed and tested using a cross-sectional survey research design administered to a large sample. The MSIS had good construct validity when compared to similar scales. The three ethnic groups differed significantly with regard to SQ, with Hindu-Mauritians obtaining the highest MSIS score. Results showed that Muslim-Mauritians scored highest on both ethnic exploration and ethnic commitment. The Creole-Mauritians¿ low score on ethnic identification questioned the group as an ethnic one, from a constructivist perspective. The differences in SQ among the groups can be easily misinterpreted and nurture stereotypes, which are not intended in this research.