Ability emotional intelligence and its relation to aggression across time and age groups

Abstract

Emotional Intelligence (EI) has been associated with several indicators of psychosocial adjustment, including aggressive behavior, but the relevant research has been mostly cross-sectional, focused on adults, and limited to trait EI measures (García-Sancho, Salguero & Fernández-Berrocal, 2014; Mayer, Roberts & Barsade, ). The present work explored the relationship between Ability Emotional Intelligence (AEI) and aggression in both adults and adolescents using cross-sectional and longitudinal designs. We conducted two studies. Study 1 aimed to provide preliminary evidence about the relationship between AEI and aggression in adults. As literature has shown personality traits act as a strong predictor of aggression, study 1 also examined the potential incremental validity of AEI beyond personality traits in 474 undergraduate students (M = 22.76, SD = 5.13). The results indicated AEI explains a significant amount of unique variance for physical aggression, but not for verbal aggression after controlling personality traits. Study 2 aimed a longitudinal analysis of the relationship between EI and aggression in 151 adolescents (M = 14.74, SD = 0.84). AEI predicted physical aggression over time, but it did not predict verbal aggression. Results from both studies suggest a negative and significant relationship between AEI and physical aggression, however contrary our expectations, it did not for verbal aggression. These results highlight the important explanatory role of emotional abilities in physical aggressive conducts and the implications of these findings are discussed.

A Three‐Year Emotional Intelligence Intervention to Reduce Adolescent Aggression: The Mediating Role of Unpleasant Affectivity

“…Our data support the sequence of change in our outcomes, allowing advancement in the understanding of complex relations among cognitive/emotional processes in aggression compared to prior research with shorter term interventions (Castillo et al., ; Durlak et al., ) or cross‐sectional data (García‐Sancho et al., ; Mayer et al., ). Furthermore, our results are consistent with recent findings that support emotional intelligence abilities as predictors of some of the variance in aggressive behavior among adolescents through a longitudinal design (9 months later; García‐Sancho et al., ). Furthermore, this study makes an important contribution to the existing literature supporting the role that emotional abilities play in the prevention of aggressive manifestations with a superior longitudinal design of three consecutive academic years.…”

The personality basis of aggression: The mediating role of anger and the moderating role of emotional intelligence

“…Concerning our second objective, the results demonstrated significant negative correlations between AEI with physical, verbal, and indirect aggression, which corroborates previous findings showing similar magnitude of correlations, with higher associations between AEI and physical and indirect than verbal aggression (García‐Sancho et al ., , ). Moving beyond previous research, our results revealed that high AEI can also buffer against the effects of anger on aggression.…”

“…Recent studies have shown that people with higher AEI are less likely to engage in aggressive behavior than people with lower AEI (García‐Sancho, Salguero & Fernández‐Berrocal, ). This negative relationship was found in three types of aggression: physical, verbal, and indirect in cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies and the associations was stronger with physical than verbal and indirect aggression (García‐Sancho, Salguero & Fernández‐Berrocal, ; García‐Sancho, Salguero & Fernández‐Berrocal, ). AEI has also been shown to be negatively associated with anger rumination (García‐Sancho et al ., ).…”

“…This negative relationship was found in three types of aggression: physical, verbal, and indirect in cross‐sectional and longitudinal studies and the associations was stronger with physical than verbal and indirect aggression (García‐Sancho, Salguero & Fernández‐Berrocal, ; García‐Sancho, Salguero & Fernández‐Berrocal, ). AEI has also been shown to be negatively associated with anger rumination (García‐Sancho et al ., ). In keeping with GAM emphasizing the importance of appraisal and decision‐making processes, we argue that individuals with high AEI employ their abilities to better perceive and understand aggressive emotions and regulate their anger before acting.…”

Perbedaan Tingkat Perilaku Agresi Berdasarkan Jenis Kelamin pada Siswa Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan Kota Yogyakarta

“…Ability Emotional Intelligence juga turut menyumbang muncul dan meningkatnya perilaku agresi siswa (García-Sancho, Salguero, & Fernández-Berrocal, 2017). Menurut penelitian lain, emotional self-efficacy juga turut menyumbang pada munculnya perilaku agresi siswa (Valois, Zullig, & Revels, 2017).…”