Self-determined Motivation, Emotional Intelligence, Persistence Attitudes, and Persistence Behaviors are non-cognitive factors that influence students' academic progression. This study examined the associations between Self-determined Motivation, EI, Persistence Attitudes, and Persistence Behaviors and the degree to which EI, as a mediating variable, influenced these constructs. The participants in this study included N = 200 Black second year students' with n = 100 participants from the private HBCU and n = 100 participants from the public HBCU. The AMS measured participants' self-determined motivation, the MSCEIT measured Emotional Intelligence, the IIS measured persistence attitudes, and the PBQ measured students' persistence behavior. The Pearson's r statistic provided data that revealed respective relationships between students' intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and their persistence attitudes, with the most frequent connections occurring between the self-determination orientations and forms and participants' perceptions of faculty care and concern for student development and teaching. When observing students' emotional intelligence, most of the relationships were between EI and the persistence attitudes for the total sample and EI and Persistence Plans for the total and private samples. However, a mediation analysis revealed no mediating relationships between the students' EI and their self-determined motivation, persistence attitudes, persistence behavior, respectively. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]