Trait Emotional Intelligence and Personality: Gender-Invariant Linkages Across Different Measures of the Big Five

Relationships of nursing stress and trait emotional intelligence with mental health in neonatal intensive care unit nurses: A cross-sectional correlational study

BACKGROUND

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is a stressful and emotionally laden environment, but the relationships between nursing stress, emotional intelligence, and mental health have not been studied in NICU nurses.

OBJECTIVES

The study aimed to determine (i) whether nursing stress and trait emotional intelligence controlled for the five-factor model of personality predict mental health in NICU nurses and (ii) whether trait emotional intelligence buffers the effect of nursing stress on mental health.

METHODS

A cross-sectional correlational study in 123 (28%) of 440 eligible NICU nurses using self-report questionnaire measures of nursing stress (Nursing Stress Scale), trait emotional intelligence (Assessing Emotions Scale), and psychological distress and emotional well-being (Mental Health Inventory). The data were analysed using hierarchical multiple regression and moderation analyses.

RESULTS

The hierarchical multiple regressions showed nursing stress predicted psychological distress (ΔR2 = .11) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .10) at Step 1. The five-factor model of personality explained further variance in psychological distress (ΔR2 = .27) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .26) at Step 2. Finally, trait emotional intelligence predicted further increments in psychological distress (ΔR2 = .05) and emotional well-being (ΔR2 = .08) at Step 3. The optimism (expecting good things to occur in one's life) and mood regulation (dampening, repairing and maintaining emotions) subdimension of trait emotional intelligence predicted psychological distress (β = -.29) and emotional well-being (β = .41) in the final models of the hierarchical multiple regressions. Trait emotional intelligence did not moderate the effect of nursing stress on psychological distress or emotional well-being.

CONCLUSIONS

NICU managers and educators should seek to remedy controllable work-related stressors and support NICU nurses' emotional competence because these respective environmental and personal factors predict mental health in these nurses.

Exploring Emotional Intelligence and Sociodemographics in Higher Education; the Imperative for Skills and Curriculum Development

There is increasing interest in understanding the nature and impact of emotional intelligence (EI) in educational institutions and the workplace since EI is associated with academic performance, career success, job satisfaction, and management skills. Here we measured EI levels in students and employees at Qatar University and examined associations with sociodemographic variables. This cross-sectional study used the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF) questionnaire to quantify EI. Of 517 respondents, 315 were students and 202 were employees. The mean global EI level across all participants was 4.80 ± 0.78, with EI highest in the well-being domain (5.43 ± 1.04). Overall, older respondents had higher EI than younger respondents. There was no significant effect of gender, marital status, or employment position on EI. However, there were significant two- and three-way interactions. As a standalone variable, age was the most important factor influencing EI development in our cohort. However, three-way interactions revealed complex effects between age, gender, and marital status and EI. Our findings support a need for workshops on EI for employees and integrating dedicated courses into existing curricula to equip students with effective interpersonal relationship skills that foster EI development. Developing such interpersonal skills could help to promote personal, professional, and academic success.

Association Between the Big Five and Trait Emotional Intelligence Among College Students

Purpose

Personality traits are relatively stable and may influence various aspects of human behavior. Trait emotional intelligence (Trait EI) presents the non-cognitive element of intelligence. Trait EI also enables individuals to deal with different stressors of life. Thus, understanding the relationship between personality traits and Trait EI can be beneficial. The current study explores the role of the big five personality factors in influencing Trait EI.

Methods

The study included three hundred and twenty university students from a multidisciplinary Indian university. They were administered the Trait EI questionnaire-short form (TEIQue-SF) and the big five inventory (BFI-44). A cross-sectional design with non-probability sampling was used for the current study.

Results

Findings of the study show that the big five have a significant relationship with global Trait EI, as the big five traits contributed to a 42.7% variance in predicting global Trait EI. Neuroticism was the foremost predictor of global Trait EI. Concerning Trait EI factors, neuroticism, and conscientiousness contributed to all except emotionality. All big five traits except agreeableness influenced well-being and sociability. Neuroticism and conscientiousness predicted self-control. However, agreeableness and extraversion predicted emotionality.

Conclusion

There is a close association between personality traits and Trait EI. However, the relationship is incremental as the big five traits jointly influence the global Trait EI more than individually on the four factors. The study's findings may enable psychologists, counselors, and other mental health professionals to develop training programs for college students to enhance emotional stability and the ability to deal with stress.

Invariance of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Construct Across Clinical Populations and Sociodemographic Variables

Recent research has shown that cultural, linguistic, and sociodemographic peculiarities influence the measurement of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI). Assessing trait EI in different populations fosters cross-cultural research and expands the construct’s nomological network. In mental health, the trait EI of clinical populations has been scarcely researched. Accordingly, the present study examined the relationship between trait EI and key sociodemographic variables on Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) datasets with mental healthcare patients from three different Spanish-speaking countries. Collectively, these datasets comprised 528 participants, 23% from Chile (120), 28% from Peru (150), and 49% from Spain (258). The sociodemographic variables we used for trait EI comparisons were gender, age, educational level, civil status, and occupational status. Analyses involved Multigroup Exploratory Structural Equation Modelling (to test measurement invariance) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Our results revealed significant between-country differences in trait EI across the studied sociodemographic variables and interactions between these variables. Measurement invariance across the datasets was attained up to the scalar level regarding gender and education (i.e., strong invariance), although analyses on age, civil status, and occupation displayed non-invariance. The resultant psychometric evidence supports the suitability of the TEIQue-SF for the accurate cross-cultural assessment of trait EI in mental health settings. It also highlights the importance of incorporating trait EI into extant psychotherapeutic frameworks to enhance non-pharmacological treatment efficacy.

Distinguishing between trait emotional intelligence and the five-factor model of personality: additive predictive validity of emotional intelligence for negative emotional states

There is ongoing debate on the utility of trait emotional intelligence and whether it is distinguishable from the five-factor model of personality. In study 1, we investigated the incremental validity of trait emotional intelligence in predicting negative emotional states, after controlling for the five-factor model personality traits. The TEIQue, Mini-IPIP, and DASS-21 were administered to a community based Australian sample. Three significant predictive models emerged: (1) wellbeing, and neuroticism predicting depression; (2) emotionality, and neuroticism predicting anxiety; and (3) self-control, and neuroticism predicting stress. In Study 2, we further explored the relationship between TEIQue domains, neuroticism, and negative emotional states. Three partial mediation models were found: (1) wellbeing mediated the relationship between neuroticism and depression; (2) emotionality mediated the relationship between neuroticism and anxiety; and (3) self-control mediated the relationship between neuroticism and stress. The findings highlight that trait emotional intelligence is related to, and yet distinct from extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, neuroticism, and openness. They also provide support for the incremental validity of the TEIQue domains in predicting depression, anxiety, and stress, beyond the five-factor model personality traits in a community based Australian sample, with the domains of trait emotional intelligence potentially operating as protective factors from pervasive negative moods.

Trait Emotional Intelligence and Happiness of Young Adults: The Mediating Role of Perfectionism

Perfectionism or a tendency to aim for an unrealistic standard can impair happiness. However, the potential mechanisms of perfectionism to explain the association between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and happiness are still understudied. This study explores the mediating role of perfectionism in the relationship between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and happiness among young adults. A cross-sectional sample of 259 young adults aged between 18 to 35 years old was recruited. All analyses were conducted using SPSS and AMOS Structural Equation Modeling. High trait EI was linked to low perfectionism and high happiness levels. Furthermore, perfectionism mediated the relationship between trait EI and happiness. Although high trait EI lowered maladaptive perfectionism, the negative impact of maladaptive perfectionism remained and subsequently led to decreasing happiness levels of young adults. This study offers an enhanced understanding of the role of perfectionism in explaining the happiness state of young adults. Moreover, it provides practical implications for using trait EI and managing perfectionism tendency to manage the happiness and wellbeing of the young adult population.

Big Five Personality Traits and Gratitude: The Role of Emotional Intelligence

Background

Among many possible variables that can be associated with gratitude, researchers list personality traits. Considering that these relationships are not always consistent, the first purpose of the present study was to verify how the Big Five factors connect to dispositional gratitude in a sample of Polish participants. The second purpose was to assess the unique contribution of personality traits on gratitude with multiple regression analyses. Moreover, because much remains to be learned about whether these associations are indirectly influenced by different personal or social variables, the third goal was to explore the role of emotional intelligence as a potential mediational mechanism implicated in the relationship between personality traits and gratitude.

Participants Methods and Data Collection

The sample consisted of 712 Polish respondents who were aged between 17 and 88. Most of them were women (64.3%). They answered questionnaires concerning their personality traits, emotional intelligence, and gratitude. The research was conducted using the paper-and-pencil method through convenience sampling.

Results

The results showed that both gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated positively and significantly with extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. Gratitude and emotional intelligence correlated negatively and significantly with neuroticism. The personality predictor of gratitude with the highest and positive standardized regression value was agreeableness, followed by openness to experience and extraversion. Neuroticism had a negative impact on gratitude. Conscientiousness was the only statistically insignificant predictor in the tested multiple regression model. Moreover, emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between four dimensions of personality (extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness) and gratitude and acted as a suppressor between neuroticism and gratitude.

Conclusion

The current study broadens our comprehension of the interaction among personality traits, emotional intelligence, and a grateful disposition. Moreover, it imparts a noteworthy foundation not only for the mediatory role of emotional intelligence between four dimensions of personality and gratitude but also for its suppressor effect between neuroticism and being grateful.

The impact of the face-to-face consultation on decisional conflict in complex decision-making in multiple sclerosis: A pilot study

Background

The role of face-to-face consultations in medicine is increasingly being challenged. Disease activity, national guidelines, life goals e.g. pregnancy, multiple therapies and side effects need to be considered on starting disease modifying treatments (DMTs) in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS).

Objectives

We studied the impact of a face-to-face consultation on decision making, using decisional conflict (DC) as the primary outcome.

Methods

Prospective cohort study of 73 pwMS attending clinics who were making decisions about DMTs followed for one year. Prerequisites and consultation features were measured with the SURE scale for DC used as the primary outcome at baseline and at one year.

Results

The patient activation measure (PAM) was the only driver prior to the consultation associated with DC (p = 0.02) showing those less engaged were more likely to have DC. Overall, 51/73 (70%) of people made their treatment decision or reinforced a former decision during the consultation. We found making a treatment decision between the original consultation and the follow-up was associated with resolving DC (p = 0.008).

Conclusions

Patient engagement impacts DC but the HCP delivering the optimal Shared Decision Making (SDM) approach is additionally significant in reducing DC. In complex decisions there is a clear role for face-to-face consultations in current practice.

Effectiveness of an Emotional Intelligence Intervention and Its Impact on Academic Performance in Spanish Pre-Adolescent Elementary Students: Results from the EDI Program

There is clear agreement about the importance of promoting emotional intelligence in school through programs integrated in the academic curriculum. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of the EDI program on the emotional intelligence trait and on general academic performance, as well as mathematics and language performance. The participants were 5th grade elementary school students between 10 and 11 years old. A quasi-experimental repeated-measures design was used, with a comparison group and four assessment points. The results showed, on the one hand, the effectiveness of a two-year intervention in improving emotional intelligence and, on the other hand, its positive influence on academic performance in general, and specifically on mathematics and language performance. In the non-intervention group, general academic performance and language performance declined. The results are discussed, and recommendations are made for future interventions.

Development and Evaluation of Intelligent Serious Games for Children With Learning Difficulties: Observational Study

Background

Positive results can be obtained through game-based learning, but children with physical disabilities have fewer opportunities to participate in enjoyable physical activity. Because intelligent serious games can provide personalized learning opportunities, motivate the learner, teach 21st-century skills, and provide an environment for authentic and relevant assessment, they may be used to help children and adolescents with different kinds of learning disabilities to develop social and cognitive competences.

Objective

The aim of the study was to produce and evaluate a suite of intelligent serious games based on accessible learning objectives for improving key skills, personal development, and work sustainability among children with learning difficulties.

Methods

We conducted this research between 2016 and 2018, with pupils aged 11 to 12 years with learning disabilities who were integrated into the mainstream educational system. We used a 4-step methodology to develop learner creativity and social competences: (1) needs analysis, (2) development of learning content, (3) development of intelligent serious games, and (4) a usability evaluation focusing on the research questions and hypothesis. This was based on an initial teachers’ evaluation, using a survey, of students using 2 of the games, where the main goal was to determine user motivation and initiative and to improve the games and the evaluation process. The initial evaluation was followed by a pilot evaluation, which was performed for all proposed games, in all partner countries.

Results

In an initial evaluation with 51 participants from Slovenia consisting of a pretest, followed by intelligent serious game intervention and concluding with a posttest, we observed statistically significant improvement in social and cognitive competences measured by tests. Based on these findings and observations, we improved the games and evaluation process. In the pilot test, conducted in all participating countries on a sample of 93 participants, the mean score on the teachers’ observation form on the pretest (before students began using the intelligent serious games) was 3.9. In the posttest, after students had used intelligent serious games, the mean score was 4.1.

Conclusions

We focused on developing and evaluating intelligent serious games for persons with learning disabilities, particularly for students with disabilities who are integrated into the mainstream educational system. Such games provide an opportunity for personalized learning and should be tailored to ensure that every learner can achieve the highest standard possible. However, we recommend that the games be adapted based on the students’ needs and capabilities and a specially developed curriculum. The collected feedback showed that (1) children with learning disabilities need appropriately developed intelligent serious games, and (2) intelligent serious games, and the pertaining didactic methodology, should be based on an interoperable curriculum, so that teachers and trainers can use them. The student survey confirmed improvements in all aspects.

Inteligencia emocional y ajuste psicológico en estudiantes: nivel académico y rama de estudios

El objetivo principal de este estudio ha sido analizar la inteligencia emocional (IE) de 147 estudiantes adultos de distintos niveles educativos. Se realizaron correlaciones de las tres escalas de IE ―percepción, comprensión y regulación emocional― con variables de personalidad, autoestima, apoyo social y sintomatología general. La regulación emocional fue la escala de IE con mayor número de relaciones, fundamentalmente con responsabilidad, apertura a la experiencia, extraversión, autoestima y apoyo social. No se encontraron diferencias en las puntuaciones de IE entre los tres niveles académicos ―formación profesional, grado universitario y máster universitario―. El contraste entre estudiantes con puntuaciones extremas en cada una de las tres escalas de IE, mostró patrones diferenciales en características sociodemográficas, autoestima, apoyo social y sintomatología general. Además, se llevó a cabo un contraste en las escalas de IE, autoestima y apoyo social de aquellos participantes de la muestra original de las ramas de Ciencias Sociales y Ciencias de la Salud, frente a una muestra de estudiantes de Ingeniería Informática. Estos mostraron menor apoyo social y percepción emocional. Los presentes hallazgos aportan información complementaria a los estudios realizados al respecto, con el fin de implementar intervenciones psicológicas dirigidas a promover la inteligencia emocional entre estudiantes de diferentes niveles académicos.

The contribution of financial well-being, social support, and trait emotional intelligence on psychological distress

OBJECTIVES

While financial deprivation, social isolation, and low emotional intelligence (EI) have been separately identified as important predictors of mental illness, no research has assessed the contribution of these factors together in understanding early markers of severe psychological distress. This information can have key implications for the development of comprehensive interventions and psychological treatment programmes. This study investigated the shared and unique contribution of financial well-being, social support, and trait EI on different types of psychological distress.

DESIGN

A total of 309 patients seeking psychological treatment at an outpatient mental health clinic in the United States provided consent to participate in this study. Patients responded to online questionnaires corresponding to symptomatology, demographic characteristics, and psychometric assessments.

METHODS

Hierarchical linear regressions identified the common and unique role of each set of variables in predicting nine different symptom clusters of psychological distress.

RESULTS

Financial well-being, social support, and trait EI were negatively related to the majority of symptom clusters, together explaining between 20% and 53% of the variance. Whereas financial well-being and social support uniquely captured a significant amount of the variance in all outcomes, trait EI, most notably the well-being and self-control dimensions, captured the most.

CONCLUSIONS

The results highlight the importance of all factors in understanding variations in mental health among help-seeking urban individuals. Furthermore, the results identify well-being and self-control as emotional facets to consider in therapeutic programmes in as much as to mitigate the risk of severe psychological distress within this population.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Together, financial well-being, social support, and trait emotional intelligence (EI) can help prevent psychological distress in help-seeking urban individuals. Perceived social support and social contact differentially contributed to improved symptoms of psychological distress. Studies should examine the impact of targeting well-being and self-control in psychological treatment. The correlational nature of this study highlights the need to replicate findings via experimental or longitudinal designs.

Childhood trauma as a mediator between emotional intelligence and recidivism in male offenders

BACKGROUND

Prior researches have implicated a relationship of recidivism with childhood trauma (CT) and emotional intelligence (EI). However, the internal mechanism by which CT and EI influence the recidivism has not been examined.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to map the road from CT and EI to recidivism in Chinese male offenders.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING

Three thousand one hundred and eighty-one Chinese adult male offenders participated in this study and completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). Recidivism was quantified by the number of convictions according to official records.

METHODS

After controlling for age, education levels, family criminal history, and nature of offence, logistic regression sanalysis was performed to examine the effects of CT and EI on severity of recidivism. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was applied to explore the mediation model between CT, EI and recidivism.

RESULTS

Logistic regression model shows a significant effect of CT (OR = 1.008, p < 0.01), rather than EI, on recidivism. SEM supported a full mediating effect of CT in the relationship between EI and severity of recidivism.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that EI has no direct effect on the recidivism, but exerts indirect influence on the recidivism through the mediating role of childhood trauma.

Predicting trait emotional intelligence from HEXACO personality: Domains, facets, and the general factor of personality

OBJECTIVE

The current study provides a comprehensive analysis of the overlap between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and personality. This overlap was examined using the HEXACO personality framework at both the domain and the facet levels, and through varying methods of deriving a general factor of personality (GFP).

METHOD

A sample of 1,370 Australian adults (51% male, age in years M = 45.5, SD = 11.7, range: 21-71) completed the 200-item HEXACO Personality Inventory-Revised and the Modified Assessing Emotions Scale measure of self-reported Trait EI.

RESULTS

The strongest domain correlations with Total EI emerged for Extraversion (r = .67) followed by Openness (r = .39), Conscientiousness (r = .35), and Agreeableness (r = .26). Large adjusted multiple correlations were obtained when predicting Total EI from HEXACO domains (.74) and facets (.81). The correlations of the GFP and Total EI ranged from .53 to .64 depending on how the GFP was operationalized.

CONCLUSION

Trait EI is largely captured by the HEXACO personality framework, whereby Extraversion or the GFP provides a rough initial approximation, but composites of domains and facets provide progressively better representations.

The Relationship Between Trait Emotional Intelligence and Personality. Is Trait EI Really Anchored Within the Big Five, Big Two and Big One Frameworks?

Pérez-González and Sánchez-Ruiz (2014) published a study in which they found that trait emotional intelligence can be considered a broad personality trait integrated into the higher levels of a multi-level personality hierarchy. They also came to the conclusion that this construct can be considered a proxy for the general factor of personality. The purpose of this study is to try to replicate their study. We follow the same methodology these authors used but with a new sample, and a different definition of trait emotional intelligence and therefore a different measurement tool. Our results show convergent validity between trait emotional intelligence and personality, but not discriminant validity, suggesting than trait emotional intelligence is not integrated in the higher level of the personality hierarchies, but it is another way to measure the same big five personality traits that traditionally compose the construct of personality. We also found that trait emotional intelligence highly correlated with the general personality factor, but additionally we found an extremely high negative correlation between those two constructs and neuroticism. This finding suggest that they may represent above all just the absence of neuroticism in a person.

Relating Rational and Experiential Thinking Styles With Trait Emotional Intelligence in Broader Personality Space

The usual distinction between rational and intuitive thinking styles is still a subject of scientific debate, as there is no consensus about their nature, mutual relations and relations to other personality constructs. Cognitive-experiential self-theory (CEST) proposes rational and experiential thinking styles as original personality constructs not fully explainable by five-factor personality models. Following CEST, we aimed to examine: 1. The uniqueness of rational and experiential dimensions by relating them to other personality constructs: trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and HEXACO; 2. Thinking style profiles defined through combined rational and experiential dimensions, and the possible role of TEI in understanding them. A total of 270 undergraduate students (82% females) completed the TEIQue-SF, REI-40, and HEXACO-PI-R. Our results showed that constructs from all three paradigms were low to moderately correlated to each other. TEI had incremental validity in explaining both rational and experiential dimensions, but large amounts of their variances remained unexplained by both TEI and HEXACO. We revealed four thinking style profiles defined through combined rational and experiential dimensions. TEI was the highest when both dimensions were high and the lowest when both were low, which could be related to processes of understanding and managing emotional functioning – proposed as an essential part of TEI, while within CEST they are seen as the way in which rationality influences experientiality. This finding might be of specific significance for understanding irrationality as not exclusively related to high intuition, but to low rationality as well.

Mindfulness Meditation and Interprofessional Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation: A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study

PROBLEM

Mindfulness training includes mindfulness meditation, which has been shown to improve both attention and self-awareness. Medical providers in the intensive care unit often deal with difficult situations with strong emotions, life-and-death decisions, and both interpersonal and interprofessional conflicts. The effect of mindfulness meditation training on healthcare providers during acute care tasks such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation remains unknown. Mindfulness meditation has the potential to improve provider well-being and reduce stress in individuals involved in resuscitation teams, which could then translate into better team communication and delivery of care under stress. A better understanding of this process could lead to more effective training approaches, improved team performance, and better patient outcomes.

INTERVENTION

All participants were instructed to use a mindfulness meditation device (Muse™ headband) at home for 7 min twice a day or 14 min daily over the 4-week training period. This device uses brainwave sensors to monitor active versus relaxing brain activity and provides real-time feedback.

CONTEXT

We conducted a single-group pretest-posttest convergent mixed-methods study. We enrolled 24 healthcare providers, comprising 4 interprofessional code teams, including physicians, nurses, respiratory therapists, and pharmacists. Each team participated in a simulation session immediately before and after the mindfulness training period. Each session consisted of two simulated cardiopulmonary arrest scenarios. Both quantitative and qualitative outcomes were assessed.

OUTCOME

The median proportion of participants who used the device as prescribed was 85%. Emotional balance, as measured by the critical positivity ratio, improved significantly from pretraining to posttraining (p = .02). Qualitative findings showed that mindfulness meditation changed how participants responded to work-related stress, including stress in real-code situations. Participants described the value of time for self-guided practice with feedback from the device, which then helped them develop individual approaches to meditation not reliant on the technology. Time measures during the simulated scenarios improved, specifically, time to epinephrine in Scenario 1 (p = .03) and time to defibrillation in Scenario 2 (p = .02), improved. In addition, team performance, such as teamwork (p = .04), task management (p = .01), and overall performance (p = .04), improved significantly after mindfulness meditation training. Physiologic stress (skin conductance) improved but did not reach statistical significance (p = .11).

LESSONS LEARNED

Mindfulness meditation practice may improve individual well-being and team function in high-stress clinical environments. Our results may represent a foundation to design larger confirmatory studies.

Human Emotions on the Onset of Cardiovascular and Small Vessel Related Diseases

BACKGROUND/AIM

The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that it examined the relationship between the cardiovascular related diseases named above and the understanding of emotions in the context of Emotional Intelligence (EI).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study was conducted in 300 participants during a 3 year period. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing various aspects of EI, such as self-emotion appraisal, other emotion appraisal, emotion regulation and use of emotions. As hypothesized, coronary heart disease is a prognostic factor of regulation of emotions.

RESULTS

The present study is an attempt to examine the relation between emotional understanding and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Establishing which diseases are independent risk factors for the understanding of emotions, could have a significant impact on emotional health, through the treatment of these cardiovascular related diseases. Emotions were studied within the theoretical context of Emotional Intelligence (EI), which affects people's physical and mental health.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study emphasize on the relationship of cardiovascular related diseases and psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and anger, being aspects of EI. Additionally, this work fills a gap in the relevant Greek literature, as a first attempt to examine the correlation of EI with cardiovascular related diseases.

Emotional Intelligence and Personality Traits as Predictors of Job Performance of IT Employees

The chief aim of this article is to examine the emotional intelligence (EI) and personality traits as the predictors of job performance of IT employees in India. To obtain this, the data was collected from 158 middle management employees working in Indian IT sector through random sampling method with the help of three scales such as DKEIT, JPI, and MPI. After data collection, the study carried out a different statistical analysis which includes frequency, correlation and regression analysis through SPSS 23.0 version. The study findings reported that both EI and Personality Traits impact the performance of job of IT employees, i.e. both Personality Traits and EI operate as a predictor of Job Performance of Indian IT employees. Based on which, the article gives few recommendations to future researchers.

Human Emotions on the Onset of Cardiovascular and Small Vessel Related Diseases

BACKGROUND/AIM

The aim of the present study was to examine the relation between understanding of emotions and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. The uniqueness of this study lies in the fact that it examined the relationship between the cardiovascular related diseases named above and the understanding of emotions in the context of Emotional Intelligence (EI).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study was conducted in 300 participants during a 3 year period. All participants completed a self-report questionnaire, assessing various aspects of EI, such as self-emotion appraisal, other emotion appraisal, emotion regulation and use of emotions. As hypothesized, coronary heart disease is a prognostic factor of regulation of emotions.

RESULTS

The present study is an attempt to examine the relation between emotional understanding and cardiovascular related diseases, namely coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus and obesity. Establishing which diseases are independent risk factors for the understanding of emotions, could have a significant impact on emotional health, through the treatment of these cardiovascular related diseases. Emotions were studied within the theoretical context of Emotional Intelligence (EI), which affects people's physical and mental health.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study emphasize on the relationship of cardiovascular related diseases and psychological characteristics, such as anxiety and anger, being aspects of EI. Additionally, this work fills a gap in the relevant Greek literature, as a first attempt to examine the correlation of EI with cardiovascular related diseases.

Emotional intelligence is associated with connectivity within and between resting state networks

Emotional intelligence (EI) is defined as an individual’s capacity to accurately perceive, understand, reason about, and regulate emotions, and to apply that information to facilitate thought and achieve goals. Although EI plays an important role in mental health and success in academic, professional and social realms, the neurocircuitry underlying this capacity remains poorly characterized, and no study to date has yet examined the relationship between EI and intrinsic neural network function. Here, in a sample of 54 healthy individuals (28 women, 26 men), we apply independent components analysis (ICA) with dual regression to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data acquired while subjects were resting in the scanner to investigate brain circuits (intrinsic resting state networks) whose activity is associated with greater self-reported (i.e. Trait) and objectively measured (i.e. Ability) EI. We show that higher Ability EI, but not Trait EI, is associated with stronger negatively correlated spontaneous fMRI signals between the basal ganglia/limbic network (BGN) and posterior default mode network (DMN), and regions involved in emotional processing and regulation. Importantly, these findings suggest that the functional connectivity within and between intrinsic networks associated with mentation, affective regulation, emotion processing, and reward are strongly related to ability EI.

Associations between emotional intelligence, empathy and personality in Japanese medical students

BACKGROUND

It is known that empathic communication is important for physicians to achieve higher patient satisfaction and health outcomes. Emotional intelligence (EI), empathy and personality in medical students predict students' individual disposition and their emotional and empathic perceptions. This study aimed to investigate: 1) The association between empathy, EI and personality, and 2) Gender differences in the association between empathy, EI and personality.

METHOD

Participants were 357 1st year medical students from 2008 to 2011 at one medical school in Japan. Students completed self-report questionnaires comprising three validated instruments measuring EI: Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-SF), empathy: Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy- student version (JSPE) and personality: NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI), which explores 5 dimensions of personality Neuroticism (N), Extraversion (E), Openness to experience (O), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C).

RESULTS

Pearson Correlations showed weak association between TEIQue-SF and JSPE. TEIQue-SF and NEO-FFI showed positive correlation for E and C, and strong negative correlation for N and weak positive correlation for A and O. Weak positive correlation between JSPE and the NEO-FFI were observed for E and A. Although effect sizes were small, N, A and empathy were significantly higher in females (unpaired t-test). However, hierarchical multiple-regression analysis when controlling for gender and personality showed no association between EI, empathy and gender. A, TEIQue-SF and N were found to make small contributions in respect of predictions for JSPE. Personality contributed significantly to the prediction of TEIQue-SF. N had the largest independent negative contribution (β = - 0,38).

CONCLUSION

In our study population of 1st year medical students, females had significantly higher N, A and empathy scores than males. Medical students' N score was strongly negatively associated with EI. Empathy was weakly associated with EI and A. However, when controlling gender and personality in regression analysis, gender did not affect EI and empathy, rather personality is the most important factor. Our findings indicate that N is a major factor that negatively affects EI. It is important to mitigate N using thoughtful training, taking into account students' personalities, to reduce N. In future studies, we will assess how communication trainings for students might enhance EI.

Emotional intelligence and recovering from induced negative emotional state

The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and recovering from negative emotions induction, using a performance test to measure EI. Sixty seven undergraduates participated in the procedure, which lasted 75 min and was divided into three stages. At Time 1, subjects answered the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI)-S, Profile of Mood States (POMS)-A, and EI was assessed by Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). At Time 2, negative emotions were induced by nine pictures taken from the International Affective Picture System and participants were asked to complete a second STAI-S and POMS-B questionnaires. At Time 3 participants were allowed to rest doing a distracting task and participants were asked to complete a third STAI-S and POMS-A questionnaires. Results showed that the branches of the MSCEIT emotional facilitation and emotional understanding are related to previous mood states and mood recovery, but not to mood reactivity. This finding contrasts nicely with studies on which emotional recovery was assessed in relation to EI self-reported measures, highlighting the perception and emotional regulation.

Criterion and incremental validity of the emotion regulation questionnaire

Although research on emotion regulation (ER) is developing, little attention has been paid to the predictive power of ER strategies beyond established constructs. The present study examined the incremental validity of the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ; Gross and John, 2003), which measures cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, over and above the Big Five personality factors. It also extended the evidence for the measure's criterion validity to yet unexamined criteria. A university student sample (N = 203) completed the ERQ, a measure of the Big Five, and relevant cognitive and emotion-laden criteria. Cognitive reappraisal predicted positive affect beyond personality, as well as experiential flexibility and constructive self-assertion beyond personality and affect. Expressive suppression explained incremental variance in negative affect beyond personality and in experiential flexibility beyond personality and general affect. No incremental effects were found for worry, social anxiety, rumination, reflection, and preventing negative emotions. Implications for the construct validity and utility of the ERQ are discussed.

Self-Report Assessments of Emotional Competencies

This Special Issue of the Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment offers a critical appraisal of the validity, applied utility, and limitations of self-report assessments of emotional competencies. Using self-concept theory as an integrative theoretical framework, this introductory editorial highlights key methodological and validity issues raised in the contributing articles: (a) distinction between emotional competence self-perceptions and objectively measured abilities, (b) effects of response biases and respondents’ age on the psychometric properties of self-reports, (c) importance of adopting a multi-dimensional assessment strategy, and (d) various aspects of construct validity (conceptual definitions and paradigms, gender differences, relationships with basic personality, mechanisms and scope of prediction). The added value of conceptualizing emotional competence self-reports as self-concepts (as proposed in this article) is illustrated in the discussion of practical implications, outstanding questions, and directions for future research on the meaning and uses of these assessments.