No abstract

Much attention has been paid to the psychological processes underlying the improvement in mood states and human well-being, particularly during adolescence. Theoretical and empirical research suggests that emotional skills may play a role in enhancing perceived well-being; however, the mechanisms involved in during adolescence are unclear. The purpose of this study was to extend understanding by investigating the potential mediators of the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and life satisfaction in a 2-years study. Participants were 269 high school students (145 girls and 124 boys) who completed the self-report perceived emotional intelligence (PEI) Scale, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale three times at 1-year intervals. The three-step longitudinal design corroborated earlier research indicating that positive and negative affect mediate the relationships between EI and life satisfaction. Students with high PEI tended to have more positive experiences and fewer negative experiences, which contributed to their greater life satisfaction. No sex differences were found in the multi-group analyses, suggesting that the causal relationships are similar in both sexes. These findings extend our understanding of the complex network of relationships involving PEI and life satisfaction in adolescence. Implications and limitations of the findings are discussed.

Based on a primary prevention perspective, the main purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between ability emotional intelligence, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and well-being indicators (e.g., psychological well-being and satisfaction with life), controlling for sociodemographic variables and personality traits in our analyses. Three hundred and seventy-eight college students (123 males; 252 females; 3 unreported) participated voluntarily in this study. We predicted that ability emotional intelligence would be significantly and positively correlated with well-being outcomes, and that cognitive emotion regulation strategies would mediate the associations between ability emotional intelligence and well-being, controlling for sociodemographic and personality traits. Structural equation modelling estimated by bootstrap method indicated that two adaptive cognitive coping strategies were found to act as partial mediators between ability emotional intelligence and well-being indicators. Our findings provide preliminary support for theoretical work linking ability emotional intelligence, cognitive emotion regulation strategies, and well-being outcomes, and contribute to the understanding of how ability emotional intelligence is related to subjective well-being via specific cognitive emotion regulation strategies in college students.

Although previous research has highlighted the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction, the underlying mechanisms remain relatively unexplored. To address this gap, this study examined employee engagement as a potential mediator of the association. A multi-occupational sample of 405 Spanish professionals completed the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale and an Overall Job Satisfaction Scale as well as providing socio-demographic data. As expected, employees’ EI was positively related to engagement dimensions (vigour, dedication and absorption) as well as overall job satisfaction. Bootstrap estimates from multiple mediation analysis confirmed that employees’ perceived EI was indirectly associated with job satisfaction via vigour and dedication scores, even when controlling for the effects of socio-demographic variables. Similarly, the same pattern was found when multiple mediation was conducted for each EI dimension. Our study contributes to understanding of the processes involved in maintaining and enhancing positive attitudes at work, providing the first, encouraging evidence that work engagement play a role in the EI-job satisfaction link. Our results extend the EI literature by elucidating the pathways through which EI is linked to positive employee attitudes and suggests that intervention programs designed to bolster EI might prove effective at increasing job satisfaction.

Prior work has suggested that individuals with deficits in emotion regulation skills are prone to compulsive behaviour and to following maladaptive coping strategies, such as smartphone overuse, to manage negative moods. Adolescence is a vulnerable developmental stage for deficits in emotion regulation, and these are linked to excessive smartphone use. The present study is the first to examine the links between the use of specific cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies and problematic smartphone use in a sample of adolescents. A total of 845 Spanish adolescents (455 females) completed the Spanish versions of the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire and the Smartphone Addiction Scale, along with a socio-demographic survey. The adolescents were divided into two groups: Non-problematic smartphone users (n = 491, 58.1%) and problematic smartphone users (n = 354, 41.9%). Significant group differences were found, with the problematic users reporting significantly higher scores for all maladaptive CER strategies, including higher self-blame, rumination, blaming of others and catastrophising. The results from logistic regression analyses show that rumination, catastrophising and blaming of others were the most important variables for distinguishing between the two groups, along with gender and parental control outside the home. In summary, these findings suggest the importance of specific maladaptive CER strategies in problematic smartphone use and provide insight for relevant targets for intervention designs.

This study was a quantitative meta-analysis of empirical research on the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and academic performance (AP) that included the three main theoretical models of EI. We conducted a computerized literature search in the main electronic databases. Forty-four of an initial 3,210 articles met the inclusion criteria. With 49 effect sizes and a cumulative sample size of 19,861 participants, we found significant heterogeneity indices indicating a variety of results. In general, the results of this study indicated a significant effect of EI on AP (Z = 0.26). Average association between EI and AP was higher in studies measured EI as ability (Z = 0.31), than studies measured EI as self-report (Z = 0.24), and self-report mixed EI (Z = 0.26). In the educational field, this meta-analysis provides information on the specific role of EI as a function of used measures. Some practical implications are discussed.

This study contributes to current knowledge on the protective role of emotional intelligence and flourishing in cases of suicide risk (namely depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation) in a sample of adolescent victims of traditional bullying. The proposed model tested the mediator role of flourishing in the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and suicide risk together with the moderating effect of EI in the relationship between low flourishing and increased suicide risk. Considering an initial sample of 1847 adolescents (52.5% female), a subsample of 494 pure bullying victims (61.3% female) took part in this research. The main results showed EI to be linked to decreased suicide risk through levels of flourishing. Moreover, EI buffered the relationship between low flourishing and the associated suicide risk. Victimized adolescents with both low levels of EI and of flourishing reported higher levels of suicide risk than their counterparts with high EI levels. This suggests the protective role of EI of both predicting higher flourishing and reducing the likelihood of suicide risk among victimized adolescents with low levels of flourishing. Finally, the practical implications of these novel findings regarding the role of EI and flourishing in the prevention of suicide risk among victimized adolescents are discussed.

Although emotional intelligence (EI) and social support are important predictors of well-being in adolescents and adults, there has been little research on their combined effects on well-being in older people. From a developmental perspective, it would be premature to assume similar models for EI, social support and well-being for older adults as were established for adolescents and adults. This study investigated sources of perceived social support as potential mediators of the relationship between EI and well-being indicators (life satisfaction and happiness) in older people. A Spanish sample of 383 older people aged 55 years and older completed a self-report survey regarding perceived emotional intelligence, perceived social support, life satisfaction, and subjective happiness. We found EI scores to be moderately and significantly related to different sources of perceived social support, life satisfaction and subjective happiness measures. Using path analyses, results showed that perceived social support from both family members and friends partially mediated the relationships between EI scores and life satisfaction and happiness (only for social support from friends). That is, emotionally intelligent older people reported higher level of perceived support from friends and family which resulted in higher well-being indicators. These findings suggest that EI may play a role in the well-being of older people with the benefit depending on the sources of perceived social support.