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The Emotional Intelligence, Health, and Well‐Being Nexus: What Have We Learned and What Have We Missed?

November 2011
Applied Psychology Health and Well-Being 4(1):1 - 30

November 2011
4(1):1 - 30

DOI:10.1111/j.1758-0854.2011.01062.x

Authors:

Moshe Zeidner

University of Haifa

Gerald Matthews

University of Central Florida

Richard D Roberts

Research and Assessment Design: Science Solution

This paper reviews the claimed pivotal role of emotional intelligence (EI) in well-being and health. Specifically, we examine the utility of EI in predicting health and well-being and point to future research issues that the field might profitably explore. EI is predictive of various indicators of well-being, as well as both physical and psychological health, but existing research has methodological limitations including over-reliance on self-report measures, and neglect of overlap between EI and personality measures. Interventions focusing on emotional perception, understanding and expression, and emotion regulation, seem potentially important for improving health and well-being, but research on EI has not yet made a major contribution to therapeutic practice. Future research, using a finer-grained approach to measurement of both predictors and criteria might most usefully focus on intra- and inter-personal processes that may mediate effects of EI on health. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_8JZX1Uc4k. © 2011 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being © 2011 The International Association of Applied Psychology.

Mediating factors in the EI–psychological health and well-being relationship.

…

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The Emotional Intelligence, Health, and

Well-Being Nexus: What Have We Learned and

What Have We Missed?aphw_1062 1..30

Moshe Zeidner*

University of Haifa, Israel

Gerald Matthews

University of Cincinnati, USA

Richard D. Roberts

Educational Testing Service (ETS), Philadelphia, USA

This paper reviews the claimed pivotal role of emotional intelligence (EI) in

well-being and health. Speciﬁcally, we examine the utility of EI in predicting

health and well-being and point to future research issues that the ﬁeld might

proﬁtably explore. EI is predictive of various indicators of well-being, as well as

both physical and psychological health, but existing research has methodologi-

cal limitations including over-reliance on self-report measures, and neglect of

overlap between EI and personality measures. Interventions focusing on emo-

tional perception, understanding and expression, and emotion regulation, seem

potentially important for improving health and well-being, but research on EI

has not yet made a major contribution to therapeutic practice. Future research,

using a ﬁner-grained approach to measurement of both predictors and criteria

might most usefully focus on intra- and inter-personal processes that may

mediate effects of EI on health.

A video abstract of this article can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=2_8JZX1Uc4k.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, Five Factor Model of personality, health,

inter- and intra-personal processes, well-being

INTRODUCTION

Emotional intelligence (EI) represents a set of hierarchically organised core

competencies for identifying, processing, and regulating emotions—both in

* Address for correspondence: Moshe Zeidner, Laboratory for Research in Personality,

Emotions, and Individual Differences, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel 31905, Israel. Email:

Zeidner@research.haifa.ac.il

APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY: HEALTH AND WELL-BEING, 2012, 4(1), 1–30

doi:10.1111/j.1758-0854.2011.01062.x

Association of Applied Psychology. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington

Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.

self and others (Salovey, Mayer, & Caruso, 2002). A major force that has

fuelled interest in EI over the past two decades is its potential contributions

to day-to-day functioning in various applied domains and its claimed pivotal

role in determining the health and the well-being of both the individual and

society (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). Having gained impetus from Goleman’s

(1995) book, which drew parallels between EI and adaptive outcomes,

researchers have posited that EI is central to predicting and explaining adap-

tive outcomes in social life (Bar-On & Parker, 2000). Staunch proponents of

EI have thus claimed that through fostering more constructive and harmo-

nious relationships with other people in society, thus affording greater well-

being and happiness, EI should confer a distinct advantage in everyday life

(Goleman, 1995; Salovey & Mayer, 1990).

Scientists have taken different approaches in their search for the essence of

emotional intelligence, and multiple conceptual models and assessment

methods have sprung up in parallel. This activity has had the potential for

great confusion among scientist and practitioner, student and expert, alike.

Space limitations prevent us from providing an account of the history of

research on EI (for reviews, see Matthews, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2002, in press;

Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, 2009). However, we should highlight a major

division over measurement strategy. Whereas some (e.g. Mayer, Salovey, &

Caruso, 2000a, 2000b) have conceptualised and assessed EI as a cognitive

ability, other authors (e.g. Bar-On, 1997; Perez, Petrides, & Furnham, 2005)

have viewed EI as a conglomerate of affective, personality, and motivational

traits and dispositions and have been concerned with the relationship

between EI, personality theory, traits, and cognate constructs. These dispar-

ate analyses give us two primary, conﬂicting ways of assessing emotional

intelligence (Zeidner et al., 2009): (a) as a cognitive ability, best measured via

performance-type tests (e.g. Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence

Test; Mayer, Caruso, & Salovey, 2002), and (b) as a noncognitive factor or

personality trait, best measured via self-report inventories (e.g. Assessing

Emotions Scale; Schutte et al., 1998; Trait Emotional Intelligence Question-

naire; TEIQue; Petrides, Furnham, & Mavroveli, 2007).

An important criterion for establishing the validity of EI and its assessment

is whether the construct ultimately predicts adaptive outcomes in important

life contexts and domains (Goldenberg, Matheson, & Mantler, 2006).

Furthermore, for EI to be considered a viable psychological construct, it must

predict outcomes in the real world beyond that accounted for by well-

established factors that are theoretically related, such as ability and person-

ality (Matthews et al., 2002; Rossen & Kranzler, 2009). Prior critical reviews

of the role of EI in applied contexts have focused mainly on the occupational

(e.g. Zeidner, Matthews, & Roberts, 2004) and educational domains (e.g.

Zeidner, Roberts, & Matthews, 2002). These reviews have identiﬁed concep-

tual and methodological ﬁssures and shortcomings in current research and

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have pointed out directions for future research. In a similar vein, this paper

aims to shed light on the role of EI in human health and well-being— yet

another important domain in which EI has been claimed to play a pivotal role.

Scope of this Review

Reliable associations between scales for EI and health and well-being are now

well established by ﬁndings from meta-analyses (Martins, Ramalho, &

Morin, 2010; Schutte, Malouff, Thorsteinsson, Bhullar, & Rooke, 2007), so

the need for a further review needs justiﬁcation. First, a general difﬁculty for

studies of trait EI (less so for ability EI) is that scales tend to correlate

substantially with standard personality traits, such as those of the Five

Factor Model (FFM: McCrae & Costa, 2008). For example, the widely-used

Bar-On (1997) EQ-i scale largely measures the FFM traits (see Zeidner et al.,

2009, for a review). Neuroticism, in particular, correlates with a range of

health outcomes (Matthews, Deary, & Whiteman, 2009), so that associations

between EI and health may simply reﬂect the overlap between high EI and

low neuroticism. Unfortunately, neither of the meta-analyses cited above

addresses this possibility.

Second, the studies included in the meta-analyses (Martins et al., 2010;

Schutte et al., 2007) almost exclusively employed self-report measures of

health and well-being as criteria, measures which may be subject to various

reporting biases. The majority of studies of EI do not in fact assess speciﬁc

diseases, but rather general impressions of health or physical symptoms,

which may be more sensitive to bias than disease reports. Personality factors

that correlate with symptom awareness and reporting may also inﬂuence

these criteria (Stone & Costa, 1990). The criterion problem is compounded

because some trait EI scales, including the EQ-i (Bar-On, 1997) and TEIQue

(Petrides et al., 2007) include subscales for well-being constructs such as

general mood, optimism, and happiness, making correlations with well-being

outcomes nearly inevitable.

Third, health criteria are also limited in that most studies have used pre-

dominantly healthy samples (typically undergraduates), so that self-reports

of poor health cannot be linked to any actual illness. For example, Mikola-

jczak, Luminet, and Menil (2006) attempted to measure illnesses but were

unable to analyse these data because of a lack of variability in their sample of

freshmen psychology students. Similarly, meta-analyses directed towards

subjective well-being (i.e. Martins et al., 2010; Schutte et al., 2007) are not

directly informative about the role of low EI in clinical mental disorders,

which may include conditions such as impulse control disorders and autism,

as well as the anxiety and mood disorders for which negative affect is central.

Fourth, establishing empirical correlations between scales for EI and well-

being measures tells us little about the underlying processes that may mediate

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 3

Association of Applied Psychology.

effects of EI on health—or even whether EI causally impacts health (as

opposed to the contrary causal pathway). There are a variety of possible

mechanisms for EI effects, including psychobiological substrates for EI, cog-

nitive processes such as choice and regulation of coping strategies, and social

processes such as seeking social support.

In this review, we build on the basic empirical ﬁnding of EI–health and

well-being associations to address the extent to which EI may be genuinely

and uniquely associated with health outcomes beyond general proneness

to subjective distress. Speciﬁcally, we critically examine the conceptual

underpinnings and empirical evidence for the utility of EI in determining or

predicting various indices of health and well-being outcomes. Furthermore,

we aim at pointing out unresolved issues, pitfalls, and ﬁssures in current

research, as well as identifying both knowns, unknowns, and promising

directions for future research.

Our review begins with the theoretical background and the empirical

evidence for the association between EI and physical health indices. We move

on to consider the nexus of associations between EI and mental health

and socio-emotional well-being. We then consider some possible mediating

processes, including adaptive coping, and quality of social interaction, in

relation to both people in general, and to close relationships. We conclude by

presenting some pitfalls, unresolved issues, and promising directions for

future research.

EI AND PHYSICAL HEALTH

It has been suggested that emotionally intelligent individuals, who are skilled

at expressing, understanding, and managing their emotions, and who are

capable of adaptively coping with the stressors and hassles of everyday life

(Bar-On, 1997; Keefer, Parker, & Saklofske, 2009), should also be healthier,

on average, than their low EI counterparts. In the following sections we look

at the theory and empirical evidence for the claimed pivotal role of EI in

determining physical health outcomes.

As noted by Keefer et al. (2009), medical advances over the past few

decades have changed the patterns of illness in modern societies dramatically.

No longer are infectious diseases (e.g. tuberculosis, cholera, smallpox) major

causes of mortality in industrialised societies. Rather, the leading causes of

morbidity and death today are related to chronic stress, unhealthy lifestyle,

and health-related behaviours. Of continuing concern is the widespread

prevalence of health risks associated with smoking, alcohol abuse, unpro-

tected sex, and obesity. In addition, a number of growing health-care costs

are tied to a number of other maladies, ranging from chronic fatigue through

ﬁbromyalgia and migraine headache. EI may serve as a protective factor

against modern health risks.

4ZEIDNER ET AL.

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Contemporary biopsychosocial models of disease (e.g. Friedman & Adler,

2007) construe health and illness as an amalgam of biological, psychological,

and social factors, with a more recent emphasis on the role of emotions in

these processes. For example, Diener and Chan (2011) garnered an impres-

sive body of evidence to show that happiness (subjective well-being) contrib-

utes to health and longevity. Within this framework, one of the key areas of

interest concerns the direct physiological links between emotions, stress, and

disease and the moderating role of individual differences in the way people

perceive, express, experience, and cope with distressing experiences, and

how they regulate their health-related behaviours. EI may be a major factor

in this nexus.

Why would EI be expected to positively impact health behaviours and

outcomes? A glance at the literature suggests a number of possible pathways

linking EI and physical health (Johnson, Batey, & Holdsworth, 2009). First,

EI has been claimed to act as a facilitator of positive health practices. In

particular, high EI individuals are more likely to maintain proactive self-care

practices (e.g. regular exercise, healthy diet, safe sex). Thus, high EI should

lead to more successful and efﬁcient self-regulation through health-related

behaviours, thereby supporting help-seeking and the maintenance of health

regimens (e.g. keeping doctor appointments, taking medications, avoiding

fattening foods). Also, the interpersonal facet of EI (identiﬁcation, expres-

sion, understanding, and regulation of emotion in others) should facilitate

interactions with health-care professionals.

Second, research by Salovey et al. (2002) suggests that the lower stress

reactivity associated with EI may be a potential mechanism linking emotional

competence and functioning with health outcomes. Speciﬁcally, high EI

individuals may appraise environmental stressors and impediments more as

challenges than stressors, ultimately leading to less aversive psychological,

behavioural, and physical outcomes of person–environment interactions. In

addition, EI has been linked (negatively) to alexithymia, broadly deﬁned as

difﬁculties in identifying processing emotions (Vachon & Bagby, 2007), a

condition that may impair effective regulation of negative emotions. The

resilience generally associated with EI may lower levels of negative emotions,

including anxiety and depression, thus allowing better stress management

(Dawda & Hart, 2000; Slaski & Cartwright, 2002).

It is of note that EI and resilience are conceptually related constructs in

that both constructs are strongly linked to adaptive coping. In fact, some

measures of EI (e.g. Dulewicz & Higgs, 1999) have included a resilience

subscale in their EI scale. However, whereas the presence of past or present

adversity plays a pivotal role in the conceptual framework underlying resil-

ience, this is not necessarily the case with respect to the conceptual framework

underlying EI. Speciﬁcally, resilience, as a protective factor, refers to the

pattern of positive adaptation in the context of adversity (Wright & Masten,

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 5

Association of Applied Psychology.

2005). It extends beyond the concept of a ﬁxed individual trait or quality

and is best conceptualised as a multifaceted phenomenon that encompasses

individual, relational, and contextual factors. Accordingly, for an individual

to be considered resilient, she must experience signiﬁcant threat or severe

adversity and achieve positive adaptation—despite threat or risk exposure.

Thus, resilience may be construed as the emotional competency to “weather

the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” and cope successfully—

particularly under adverse environmental conditions replete with high-risk

environmental stressors. By contrast, EI is an individual difference variable,

i.e. the ability to process emotional content related to both day-to-day life

and adverse social and environmental conditions.

Third, EI may work through richer coping resources and more adaptive

habitual coping behaviours that carry added health beneﬁts (e.g. Salovey,

Rothman, Detweiler, & Steward, 2000). Examples of task-oriented ways of

protecting one’s health under stress include a nutritious diet, proper hygiene,

controlled efforts to maintain regular exercise, and adequate sleep, all of

which have been associated with increased positive mood and better health-

related quality of life. EI-related competencies should facilitate more active

coping through treatment seeking and adherence to medical regimes, thereby

reducing the severity and chronicity of the illness experience itself. Further-

more, there is emerging evidence that high EI individuals are embedded in

supportive social networks, and may therefore enjoy greater social support

that can be relied upon in times of stress or illness (Zeidner et al., 2009).

Fourth, because of their emotional competencies, particularly self-

regulatory abilities, high-EI individuals are less likely to develop certain

problematic habits (e.g. gambling) or excessive preoccupation with drinking,

smoking, and drugs, to the exclusion of other aspects of balanced living.

Thus, the high capacity for self-insight and self-regulation in high EI indi-

viduals should prevent their involvement in risky behaviours, including

maladaptive coping. Instead, high EI should promote a more positive lifestyle

that increases longevity and physical well-being. Figure 1 graphically depicts

a number of mediating factors in the EI–health relationship.

Two recent meta-analytic studies support the association between EI and

health-enhancing behaviours and outcomes. The ﬁrst (Schutte et al., 2007)

found that EI, on average, was signiﬁcantly and positively related to physical

health (average r=.22). The more recent meta-analysis by Martins et al.

(2010) distinguished studies of physical, psychosomatic, and mental health.

In 12 independent studies of physical health, the average correlation with EI

was .27; in 16 studies of psychosomatic health, the average rwas .33. As noted

above, the meta-analysis has weaknesses including reliance on self-report

criteria, use of predominantly healthy samples, and failure to control for

personality confounds. For example, neuroticism, which is substantially

negatively correlated with most trait EI scales, is also quite strongly corre-

6ZEIDNER ET AL.

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lated with self-reported somatic symptoms (Rosmalen, Neeleman, Gans, &

Jonge, 2007). Another limitation of extant studies is that Martins et al. (2010)

were unable to locate any studies of ability EI and physical and psychoso-

matic health indicators.

A ﬁnal issue with the meta-analyses is that in some cases supposedly physical

and psychosomatic criteria may actually reﬂect mental health. For example,

in the Martins et al. (2010) treatment of psychosomatic outcomes, two

studies showing large effect sizes (Greven, Chamorro-Premuzic, Arteche, &

Furnham, 2008; Johnson et al., 2009) utilised a short form of the General

Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Williams, 1988). The GHQ-12 includes

items only for psychological symptoms (e.g. “feeling unhappy and depressed”)

and as such, it can make no claims surrounding somatic symptoms.

The great majority of studies are limited by use of a cross-sectional design.

Some studies have, however, gone beyond simply recording associations

between trait EI and self-reported health status. For example, Goldman,

Kraemer, and Salovey (1996) conducted an early prospective study of the link

between EI and health-related behaviours. They found that college students

who reported difﬁculties in regulating their negative emotions under evalua-

tive stress conditions were more likely to visit the student health centre. By

contrast, those reported to be good at repairing negative emotions visited the

health centre less often, on average. These authors theorised that students

who did not know how to regulate their negative feelings themselves were

EMOTIONAL

INTELLIGENCE

MEDIATING VARIABLES

* Greater use of proactive self-care

health practices

* More efficient self-regulation towards

health-related behaviors

* Fewer unhealthy habits (smoking,

drinking, drugs, etc.)

* Better interactions with health care

professionals

* More frequent task-oriented coping

to deal with health problems

* Greater social support resources that

can be relied upon in times of stress or

illness.

* Positive emotions and related

positive effects of the immune system

PHYSICAL

HEALTH

FIGURE 1. Some potential mediating factors in the EI–heath relationship.

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 7

Association of Applied Psychology.

more likely to seek the attention of a physician, essentially using the health

services for purposes of mood repair. Mikolajczak et al. (2006) conducted a

3-month study in which physical and somatic symptoms were measured at

baseline and during an exam period. Overall, EI was correlated with self-

reported physical health status at baseline, but failed to predict somatic

symptoms during the exam period when initial status was controlled. The

TEIQue trait EI scale used by these authors can be scored for subfactors; one

out of four subfactors (self-control) was predictive of the increase in somatic

symptoms experienced during the exam period.

A series of studies by Saklofske and colleagues looked further at asso-

ciations between trait EI and behaviours that may promote physical health.

These studies also addressed the confounding of trait EI measures with

standard personality factors. Their ﬁrst study (Austin, Saklofske, & Egan,

2005) found that FFM personality traits, including neuroticism, were more

strongly related to self-reported health status and doctor visits than trait EI

was, although they did ﬁnd a small but signiﬁcant negative correlation

between EI and alcohol use. A further study (Saklofske, Austin, Galloway,

& Davidson, 2007) showed small but signiﬁcant correlations (i.e. in the

0.1–0.2 range) between trait EI and measures of healthy diet, doctor visits,

and exercise. This study also showed that trait EI (along with conscien-

tiousness from the FFM) correlated with an internal locus of control for

health, perhaps suggesting that those high in EI may be readier to engage

in proactive health behaviours. In a third study, Saklofske, Austin, Rohr,

and Andrews (2007) found that trait EI related to self-reports of exercise

behaviour (r=.14) but not to exercise attitudes. A structural equation

model suggested that EI mediated effects of extraversion and neuroticism

on exercise.

The general impression that emerges from these studies is that EI is rather

modestly related to health-promoting behaviours, but, for some criteria, trait

EI may show incremental validity with respect to the FFM. Further evidence

on the matter is rather limited. Greven et al. (2008) and Johnson et al. (2009)

both found that EI predicted the GHQ-12 over and above personality, but, as

already noted, the GHQ-12 is a mental health measure. In the longitudinal

study we described previously, Mikolajczak et al. (2006) showed that the

self-control subfactor of their EI questionnaire (the TEIQue) predicted

somatic symptoms over and above optimism and alexithymia. However,

self-control is strongly negatively correlated with neuroticism—Greven et al.

report an rof .74 (disattenuated r=.95) in a large sample—so this study is

severely limited by failure to assess the FFM. Day, Therrien, and Carroll

(2005) found that trait EI showed a small but signiﬁcant association with

well-being, controlling for the FFM, but failed to add to the prediction of

burnout and strain (physical and mental symptoms), conﬁrming the impres-

sion that trait EI may relate more to mental than to physical health.

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Association of Applied Psychology.

A ﬁnal comment on the physical health data is that, in the context of

personality studies, several authors (e.g. Stone & Costa, 1990; Watson &

Pennebaker, 1989) have noted that neuroticism is much more strongly cor-

related with complaints of symptoms than with objective medical diagnoses,

suggesting that those high in the trait are complaint-prone rather than disease

prone. More recently, research has conﬁrmed that neuroticism does in fact

relate to objective health conditions (Ferguson, in press; Matthews et al.,

2009), but further research is needed to test whether trait EI relates predomi-

nantly to (low) complaining or to objective illness. A promising result was

obtained by Mikolajczak, Menil, and Luminet (2007), who showed that

individuals high in trait EI showed a smaller cortisol response to an experi-

mental stressor—having to give a public speech. Furthermore, the effect held

up with the Big Five controlled, suggesting that trait EI was uniquely pre-

dictive of one component of the physiological stress response.

MENTAL HEALTH AND SOCIO-EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING

There is considerable evidence to support the notion that emotional factors

play a critical role in determining one’s mental health and subjective well-

being and that emotional dysfunctions play an important role in the devel-

opment of mental disease. The case for the pivotal role of EI in mental

health might refer especially to the role of emotion regulation in certain

mental disorders. An excess in negative emotion is a deﬁning feature of

anxiety and mood disorders, including depression. Some people suffering

from stress appear to regulate their feelings of anxiety or distress in ways

that are counterproductive, such as fruitless, repetitive rumination (Wells,

2000). Other disorders may tie in with facets of EI that go beyond simple

vulnerability to negative emotion. One such facet is self-control, expressed

in effective emotion regulation and the avoidance of reckless, impulsive

actions. Individuals with conduct disorders that lead them to commit

violent acts also have issues with impulse control, as do alcoholics and drug

addicts. Other disorders appear to overlap with social disconnection, which

may also be a feature of low emotional intelligence. A case in point is

autism. In high-functioning autistic individuals, who may be diagnosed

with Asperger syndrome, cognitive intelligence is normal, but the person

has great difﬁculty in understanding and interacting with others. Loosely,

then, one could argue that a variety of individuals with mental health prob-

lems lack EI.

In the spirit of positive psychology, we might wish to distinguish good

mental health from lack of mental disorder. Salovey and Mayer’s (1990)

original article on EI emphasised its role in personal growth and self-

actualisation. Evidence suggests that EI correlates with a variety of outcomes

that signal social-emotional well-being or overall quality of life (Austin et al.,

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 9

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2005), as well as happiness (Chamorro-Premuzic, Bennett, & Furnham,

2007), optimism and mood (Mikolajczak et al., 2006; Petrides, Pérez-

González, & Furnham, 2007). Research also suggests that emotionally intel-

ligent individuals report greater satisfaction in speciﬁc contexts, such as work

(e.g. Brackett, Palomera, Mojsa-Kaja, Reyes, & Salovey, 2010; Kafetsios &

Zampetakis, 2008; Sy, Tram, & O’Hara, 2006).

In fact, EI may be pivotal in managing emotion-laden encounters and a

sense of healthy well-being (Lenaghan, Buda, & Eisner, 2007). Indeed, the

claimed associations between EI and quality of life indices are theoretically

sound, with plausible links expected either to the interpersonal or intraper-

sonal aspects of EI. However, research has rarely distinguished positive

mental health from lack of negative emotion very clearly. A recent study

(Austin, Saklofske, & Mastoras, 2010) showed that EI was related to both

lower stress and higher subjective well-being. However, these two criteria

correlated at around -0.60 with one another. Similarly, Kafetsios and Zam-

petakis (2008) suggested that EI might work through both positive and

negative emotions to impact job satisfaction.

The meta-analytic data in fact refer both to indices of stress, negative

affect, and emotional pathology, and to criteria for well-being and quality of

life. The effect sizes (rs) for the association between EI and mental health

were .23 in the Schutte et al. (2007) study and .36 in the Martins et al. (2010)

meta-analysis. Both investigations also found that when measured as a trait,

EI was more strongly associated with mental health then when measured as

ability. In addition, gender was found to moderate the EI–health relationship

by Martins et al. (2010), with the magnitude of observed effects stronger

among females than males. Some of the relevant studies have shown that EI

remains predictive of mental health with standard personality factors con-

trolled (e.g. Austin et al., 2005; Gallagher & Vella-Brodrick, 2008; Petrides

et al., 2007; Saklofske et al., 2007), although the incremental validity of EI

over personality is modest. In other studies, controlling for personality and

intelligence tends to reduce the predictive validity of EI measures; sometimes

making these close to zero (see Burns, Bastian, & Nettelbeck, 2007; Day,

2004; Rode, Arthaud-Day, Mooney, Near, & Baldwin, 2008).

In short, several studies show that the TEIQue has incremental validity

over the FFM in predicting criteria for mental health and well-being.

However, a limitation of the TEIQue is that it includes scales deﬁning a factor

of well-being (Zeidner et al., 2009). Thus, correlations between TEIQue and

mental health may in part reﬂect overlap between predictor scale content and

the criterion. Unfortunately, several of the studies demonstrating incremental

validity (e.g. Petrides et al., 2007) report data only for TEIQue total score, so

that the contribution of TEIQue well-being to prediction cannot be assessed.

However, the study by Greven et al. (2008), which is also one of the largest

studies in this ﬁeld (N=1,038), provides the requisite information (i.e. scores

10 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

on the FFM and on the four TEIQue factors). The criterion was GHQ-12

score (high scores indicate poorer mental health).

We re-analysed data provided in Greven et al. (2008, Table 2). We

computed the partial correlation between TEIQue total score and GHQ-12,

controlling for the ﬁve FFM scales, and conﬁrmed incremental validity

(partial r=-0.17, p<.01). We then computed the corresponding partials for

each of the four TEIQue factors. Well-being showed incremental validity

over the FFM (partial r=-0.31, p<.01), but Self-Control, Emotionality,

and Sociability did not (all partial rs in the range -0.05 to 0.05). Hierarchical

regression analyses were also run, including the FFM scales and the TEIQue

factors (overall R2=0.38). The TEIQue added 6.7 per cent to the variance

explained by the FFM; the FFM added 4.7 per cent to the variance explained

by the TEIQue (both DR2were signiﬁcant at p<.01). In the ﬁnal equation,

the only TEIQue factor to attain signiﬁcance was Well-being (b=-.40,

p<.01). The contributions of N (b=.36, p<.01) and agreeableness (b=.07,

p<.05) were also signiﬁcant.

Thus, in this large data set, it appears that incremental validity for the

TEIQue in predicting mental health may derive from overlap in the content

of predictor and criterion. Of course, this conclusion may not apply to other

studies or to other health criteria. However, it does seem that the problem of

“criterion contamination” merits more attention, and, at scale or item level,

it may be an issue for measures other than the TEIQue.

Clinical Conditions and Disorders

Studies reviewed thus far have focused on global health measures in predomi-

nantly healthy samples. In order to unpack the reported association between

EI and poor mental health, we examine in greater detail the data for the role

played by EI in some speciﬁc clinical conditions, including affective distur-

bances, problems with impulse control, dysfunctional social interactions, and

alexithymia.

Affective Disorders. EI, assessed through self-reports, has been shown

to correlate with a variety of other questionnaires that assess affective

pathological traits (e.g. anxiety, depression) in non-clinical groups (Bar-On,

2000; Dawda & Hart, 2000; Mavroveli, Petrides, Rieffe, & Bakker, 2007;

Summerfeldt, Kloosterman, Antony, & Parker, 2006). Comparable ﬁndings

are obtained from studies of clinical patients, diagnosed with mental disor-

ders according to 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of

the American Psychiatric Association, DSM-IV (Downey et al., 2008). It is

noted that differences in EI scores between clinical and control groups are

also found when EI is measured as ability rather than a personality trait

(Hertel, Schütz, & Lammers, 2009). It is difﬁcult to determine the causal

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 11

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role of low EI in affective disorder; one prospective study has suggested

that EI may be a consequence rather than a cause of depression (Hansenne

& Bianchi, 2009).

Summerfeldt, Kloosterman, Antony, McCabe, and Parker (2011) showed

that trait EI scores were low in three clinical anxiety groups, comprising

individuals variously diagnosed with panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive

disorder, and social phobia. The study did not measure standard personality

traits which are known to be highly correlated with the questionnaire used in

this study (Bar-On, 2000; Dawda & Hart, 2000). Summerfeldt et al. found

that although social phobics showed deﬁcits in interpersonal EI, as might be

expected, they also showed particularly low levels of interpersonal EI, which

may highlight a speciﬁc deﬁcit in emotion regulation, suggested too by other

studies of social anxiety (Turk, Heimberg, & Magee, 2008). Other interpre-

tations of the ﬁnding are also possible. Matthews et al. (2002) noted that the

Bar-On (2000) intrapersonal EI factor may primarily pick up low self-esteem.

They also found that the factor tends to converge psychometrically with

well-being scales (happiness and optimism), making it a rather blunt instru-

ment for measuring styles of emotion regulation. Another recent article sug-

gests an alternative methodology. Hampel, Weis, Hiller, and Witthft (2011)

showed that social anxiety was negatively associated with objective measures

of social understanding, social memory, and social perception. Social intelli-

gence, as assessed by Hampel et al. (2011), is not the same as EI, but using

measures of this kind may elucidate the link between low EI and social

anxiety.

Social Deviance and Impulse Control. Low EI has also been related to

externalising behaviours (Downey, Johnston, Hansen, Birney, & Stough,

2010), and to various measures of social deviance (Brackett & Mayer, 2003;

Esturgó-Deu & Sala-Roca, 2010), with psychopathic individuals showing

deﬁcits in their ability to attend to and repair their emotions (Malterer, Glass,

& Newman, 2008). Although various studies using the Mayer-Salovy-Caruso

Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) have shown relatively low test scores

in a variety of deviant groups (Rivers, Brackett, Salovey, & Mayer, 2007),

research of this kind has rarely probed further to identify emotional processes

associated with low EI that may produce or reduce pathology.

A number of studies (e.g. Austin et al., 2005; Trinidad & Johnson, 2002;

Trinidad, Unger, Chou, Azen, & Johnson, 2004) suggest that high EI ado-

lescents and adults may better be able to process social information and

employ a wider array of coping strategies to resist social pressures and deal

with situations that may increase health risks. By contrast, persons low on EI

may be less able to manage emotions resulting from social pressures to

smoke, drink, and use unhealthy substances (Trinidad & Johnson, 2002). In

fact, a recent integrative review by Kun and Demetrovics (2010), based on 36

12 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

studies centring on EI and addictive behaviours, indicated that low EI is

associated with more intensive addiction in the areas of smoking, alcohol

use, and illicit drug use. Two components of EI in particular, i.e. decoding

and differentiating of emotion and emotion regulation, play a key role in

protecting against addiction.

Dysfunctional Social Interactions. There are several clinical conditions,

including autism and schizophrenia, in which individuals have severe difﬁ-

culties in socially interacting with others. A variety of emotional and social-

cognitive deﬁcits have been observed in both schizophrenic and autistic

individuals, although more research is needed to determine exactly what these

deﬁcits are.

The empirical evidence for the role of EI in schizotypal disorders and

schizophrenia is complex. Research by Aguirre, Sergi, and Levy (2008) sug-

gests that college students high in schizotypal personality also obtain lower

MSCEIT scores. Also, research by Kee et al. (2009) showed that individuals

with schizophrenia typically obtained lower scores on the MSCEIT and

performed poorly on a variety of tasks requiring emotional processing.

However, a study by Holmen, Juuhl-Langseth, Thormodsen, Melle, and

Rund (2010) found no deﬁcit on the MSCEIT in a sample of adolescents with

early-onset schizophrenia. They suggest that the contexts for social cognition

(e.g. workplace events) described in the MSCEIT items are unsuitable for

this age group. Another study of schizophrenic patients (Eack et al., 2010)

obtained rather mixed ﬁndings.

With respect to autism, Montgomery, McCrimmon, Schwean, and Sak-

lofske (2010) reported that autistic young adults obtained considerably

lower scores than controls on a self-report measure of EI (Bar-On, 1997).

They found the largest autism–normal difference on the Bar-On EQ-i

General Mood scale, suggesting that their autistic sample may have been

low in emotional stability (i.e. exhibit neuroticism). Curiously, they found

no effect of autism on the MSCEIT. Montgomery et al. suggest that

abstract knowledge of emotion may be normal in high-functioning autistic

individuals, but they may have difﬁculty in applying this knowledge to

real-life encounters. Furthermore, Losh and Capps (2006) raised the

question of whether autistic individuals experience emotion differently (or

even less) than normals. They concluded that autistic persons experience

impoverished emotion especially in relation to more complex, socially

infused emotions.

Research has also made progress in exploring some of the mechanisms that

may contribute to relevant deﬁcits in EI, including (in autism) the social-

cognitive processing needed for building a theory of mind (Ferguson &

Austin, 2010) and the emotional memory representations that may shape

emotional experience (Losh & Capps, 2006). In what by now should appear

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 13

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a reoccurring theme, too little attention has been paid to the role of the

personality and ability confounds of EI in these studies (Matthews et al.,

2002).

Overall, difﬁculties in social connection are common in clinical disorders

including schizophrenia and autism. Deﬁcits in interpersonal function-

ing may reﬂect low EI, suggesting that impairments in emotional compe-

tencies may contribute to the clinical conditions. Broadly, the available

research tends to conﬁrm that schizotypal, schizophrenic, and autistic indi-

viduals score lower on tests for EI, although ability EI seems to be normal

or even elevated in high-functioning autistic individuals (Montgomery

et al., 2010).

Alexithymia. One of the more productive research areas of relevance

for EI research has centred on alexithymia, a condition involving difﬁculties

in integrating cognition and emotion and in identifying and verbalising

emotions (Taylor, Parker, & Bagby, 1997). The most popular measuring

instrument for this construct is the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20;

Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994), which is made up of three subscales:

Difﬁculty identifying feelings, difﬁculty describing feelings, and externally

orientated thinking (i.e. a preference for concrete details of everyday life

over imagination, fantasy, and inner experience). Some fairly sophisticated

psychometric analyses have shown that alexithymia is a true dimensional

trait, rather than a categorical, all-or-none condition (Parker, Keefer,

Taylor, & Bagby, 2008).

Given that alexithymia is substantially correlated with neuroticism

(Luminet, Bagby, Wagner, Taylor, & Parker, 1999), it comes as no surprise

that various questionnaire measures of alexithymia correlate with low trait

EI, also measured by questionnaire (e.g. Mikolajczak et al., 2006). However,

small but signiﬁcant negative correlations are found between the TAS-20 and

the MSCEIT (Lumley, Gustavson, Partridge, & Labouvie-Vief, 2005).

Mikolajczak et al. (2006) reported that trait EI predicts emotional reactivity

even with alexithymia controlled. Thus, we cannot reduce low trait EI solely

to alexithymia. However, the clinical implications of this overlap remain

unclear, in the absence of research connecting EI to speciﬁc emotion regula-

tion processes. As Vachon and Bagby (2007) conclude, “alexithymia may be

a more useful construct than EI precisely because it is a narrowly constructed,

theory-based, well-researched condition that clinicians can recognize,

measure and treat” (p. 351).

There is little doubt about the theoretical and practical relevance of the

alexithymia construct for our understanding of emotional disorders, and

other psychiatric and medical conditions. Difﬁculties in emotional under-

standing and expression seem quite common in patients, and should inform

treatment (Parker, 2005).

14 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

Mediating Processes for Mental Health and

Social-Emotional Well-Being

Both intra- and inter-personal mechanisms have been hypothesised to

account for the nexus of relationships between EI and social-emotional well-

being. First, more emotionally intelligent individuals may cope more adap-

tively with potentially disturbing emotions, and with social demands and

challenges, reducing stress and enhancing well-being (Salovey, Bedell, Det-

weiler, & Mayer, 1999). EI might potentially relate to a range of constructive

task-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies (Zeidner & Matthews,

2000), but theoretical analyses (e.g. Salovey et al., 1999) suggest that the role

of emotion regulation may be of special signiﬁcance.

Second, there is extensive evidence for the role of social factors in mental

(and physical) health. A large literature attests to the health beneﬁts of social

support, especially in its role as a stress buffer, although negative interactions

with others reduce well-being (Swickert, 2009). If we assume that high EI

individuals have an advantage in terms of greater social competence, richer

social networks, and more effective social coping strategies, these factors

should enhance both quality of relationships and the availability of social

support, enhancing subjective well-being and personal satisfaction with their

social condition (Salovey et al., 1999; Salovey, Bedell, Detweiler, & Mayer,

2000). Close personal relationships may be especially important for well-

being (Fitness, 2001; cf. Zeidner & Kaluda, 2008). Next, we look at some of

the evidence pertaining to these potential mediating processes.

Adaptive Coping. EI may be a pivotal factor determining how a person

handles stress in daily life. The conceptualisation of EI as a set of compe-

tencies for handling emotions and coping with stressful and emotionally

laden situations is based on a functionalist perspective that views emotions

as a set of responses that guide the individual’s behaviour, serving as

information that may help the person achieve important personal goals

(Goldenberg et al., 2006). Indeed, it has been frequently claimed that high

EI individuals manage stressful encounters better than low EI in indivi-

duals (e.g. Mikolajczak, Nelis, Hansenne, & Quiodbach, 2008; cf. Zeidner,

Matthews, & Roberts, 2006).

Research devoted to uncovering relations between EI and effective coping

strategies has generally touched on two related issues. The ﬁrst investigates

how EI measures correlate with established dispositional or situational

coping scales. The second, more subtle, issue has involved ascertaining

whether coping mediates associations between EI and well-being and related

adaptive outcomes.

Overall, correlations among EI and coping measures range widely between

0.20 and 0.60 (Zeidner et al., 2006). Furthermore, the strength and direction

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 15

Association of Applied Psychology.

of the relationships varies according to the type of coping strategy measured

(problem-focused, emotion-focused, or avoidant) and also the way in which

EI is operationalised (trait EI versus ability EI). Speciﬁcally, higher scores

on trait-based measures of EI tend to be more positively correlated with

adaptive coping styles and negatively correlated with maladaptive coping

styles (Bastian, Burns, & Nettelbeck, 2005; Mikolajczak et al., 2008; Saklof-

ske et al., 2007; MacCann, Fogarty, Zeidner, & Roberts, 2011). The hypoth-

esis that traits related to emotion regulation may inﬂuence adaptive coping

(Salovey et al., 1999) may be tested using the Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS;

Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995), which measures attention

to emotions, clarity of thinking about emotions, and mood repair. Studies

have broadly conﬁrmed that these scales appear to relate to various aspects of

adaptive coping and greater well-being (Salovey et al., 2002; Velasco, Fernán-

dez, Páez, & Campos, 2006).

Few studies have tested mediation hypotheses formally. Chan (2005) used

structural equation modelling in a sample of 624 gifted Hong Kong students to

show that adaptive social coping strategies mediated effects of EI on mental

health. Mikolajczak et al. (2007) reported that associations between trait EI

and occupational stress were mediated by strategies for coping with emotional

labour. In a study of adolescents, Downey et al. (2008) showed that coping

partially mediated relationships between several aspects of trait EI and exter-

nalising behaviours (i.e. rule-breaking behaviours, aggressive behaviours).

Use of problem-focused and low use of tension-relieving (but unproductive)

coping strategies appear to protect the emotionally intelligent 12-year-old

from problem behaviours. Austin et al. (2010) tested a different kind of

mediation model in a study of examination stress in Canadian undergraduates.

They obtained factors that combined various facets of trait EI and coping, and

showed that these combined factors mediated effects of personality on stress.

The ﬁndings are less clear where ability EI is concerned, largely because

there are relatively few studies on which to rely. Considering ability-based EI

measures, there is some evidence to suggest that EI is negatively related to less

adaptive forms of coping, such as emotion-focused and avoidant coping

(Matthews, Roberts, & Zeidner, 2006; MacCann et al., 2011), but not to the

greater use of coping strategies in general (Bastian et al., 2005). In sum, there

are documented links between EI and various means of coping with stressful

situations, with these links observed to be stronger when trait-based measures

of EI are employed. This outcome may, of course, reﬂect overlap between

trait EI and personality, given that various personality traits that correlate

with EI reliably predict coping (Connor-Smith & Flachsbart, 2007; Matthews

et al., 2009).

Social Interactions. Emotional competencies are expected to be of

pivotal importance for social encounters and for achieving adaptive out-

16 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

comes (Lopes et al., 2004). Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso (2008) suggest that

EI robustly predicts positive social well-being and adaptive social outcomes

in both children and adults. Thus, self-report measures have been consistently

found to be related to increased pro-social behaviours and greater empathy in

children and youth (Mavroveli, Petrides, Sangareau, & Furnham, 2009).

Likewise, positive correlations between ability-based measures of EI and

social outcomes have been reported for both children and adolescents

(e.g. Márquez, Martín, & Brackett, 2006; Rossen & Kranzler, 2009) and

for college students (Brackett, Mayer, & Warner, 2004; Lopes, Salovey, &

Straus, 2003; Lopes et al., 2004). Managing Emotions appears to be most

consistently predictive of these social criteria; the other three branches mostly

share rather trivial relations with the social variables assessed (Lopes et al.,

2003, 2004).

Just as higher mean EI predicts more favourable social outcomes, lower

mean EI is associated with interpersonal conﬂict and lower levels of well-

being (Mayer et al., 2008). Thus, adolescents lower on EI were rated as more

aggressive than others and were observed to be more prone to engage in

conﬂictual and anti-social behaviour than their higher EI peers (Brackett

et al., 2004; Mayer, Perkins, Caruso, & Salovey, 2001). The study of social

anxiety previously described (Summerfeldt et al., 2011) suggests too that

social dysfunction may be generated by impairments in intrapersonal

emotion regulation. Figure 2 graphically depicts a number of mediating

factors in the EI–socio-emotional well-being relationship.

FIGURE 2. Mediating factors in the EI–psychological health and well-being

relationship.

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 17

Association of Applied Psychology.

CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Our review suggests that EI is conceptually and empirically related to a wide

array of health outcomes, a striking variety of dysfunctional behaviours, and

myriad indices of quality of life, well-being, and stress. A broad association

between EI and health is conﬁrmed by meta-analyses (Martins et al., 2010;

Schutte et al., 2007). In addition, self-report measures of EI appear to be

more robustly related to health and well-being criteria than are ability-based

measures. These ﬁndings conform to the general principle that various

aspects of negative affectivity are associated with self-reports of health

(Friedman, 2000). Studies showing that EI is lowered in various clinical

conditions, together with a very small number of studies linking EI to objec-

tive physiological processes (Mikolajczak et al., 2007), provide some reassur-

ance that there is more to low EI than simply a tendency to complain about

symptoms (cf. Stone & Costa, 1990). We have learned too that EI can be

linked to plausible mediating processes including health behaviours, adaptive

coping, taken here to include emotion regulation, as well as interpersonal

competencies. However, few studies have tested mediation hypotheses

directly, although analyses of this kind are starting to appear (e.g. Downey

et al., 2010), and there is a general over-reliance on self-report data.

In the sections that follow we discuss a number of conceptual and

methodological pitfalls, ﬁssures, and unresolved issues in current research.

We then move on to point out some promising directions for future research.

Pitfalls, Fissures, and Unresolved Issues in

Current Research

Focus on Structure Rather than on Process. A basic problem in EI

research to date is that current accounts are largely “structural” in nature.

That is, they focus on stable features of the individual’s personality or abili-

ties (perception, understanding, regulation) as deﬁned by a factor model (e.g.

the four-branch model). Each of these features may be accounted for by

numerous causal mechanisms, ranging from neural circuitry supporting the

posited structures to acquired schemata and priming effects (Fiori, 2009;

Matthews et al., 2002). By contrast, contemporary health and clinical

psychology have often found more value in “process” models that specify

the changes in neural, cognitive, and social functioning when the person is

confronted by some challenging event.

For example, emotion management is described as a structural component

of EI (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, & Sitarenios, 2003). Data showing that EI

is related to various health behaviours (e.g. exercise, diet, sleep) or data

showing that anxious or depressed individuals obtain low scores on psycho-

metric scales for emotion management (Downey et al., 2008) make an empiri-

18 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

cal contribution, but it is unclear whether they tell us anything more. Indeed,

it would seem trite to attribute poor health behaviours or depression to poor

emotional management alone.

Problems in Determining Causal Direction. Much of the research attest-

ing to the relationships between EI and health and well-being outcomes is

descriptive or correlational in nature; the causal status of EI remains unclear

at present. On one hand, high EI may serve as a protective factor for good

health and well-being, whereas very low EI might be a serious vulnerability

factor for an impoverished sense of well-being or a range of health problems.

For example, when a person encounters adversity in life and some external

stressor turns the person’s life upside down, the individual low in EI may not

be able to repair their emotions or cope effectively with stress. This, in turn,

may contribute to a low sense of well-being or the development of health

problems, or a major psychological disorder. On the other hand, emotional

disorders typically disrupt the person’s ability to understand and manage

stressful encounters, not least because attention becomes ﬁxated on personal

issues as the person ruminates on or worries about their difﬁculties (Wells &

Matthews, 1994). Thus, low EI might be a symptom or effect, rather than a

cause, of mental problems.

Indeterminate Status of EI as Vulnerability Factor. A major issue still

unresolved is whether or not high EI is associated with a general resilience

and protective mechanisms for well-being and positive health. Likewise, it is

presently unclear to what degree low EI is associated with a general vulner-

ability for unhappiness and poor physical and mental health.

In looking at EI in normal individuals, there appears to be an ongoing

tension between treating EI as some overarching personal quality, like IQ,

versus identifying numerous, distinct emotional competencies and skills that

may be only loosely related, if at all. If we look at mental illness, the majority

of the separate conditions deﬁned by DSM-IV involve some degree of emo-

tional dysfunction. But does the abnormality seen in conditions as various as

poor health behaviours, addictions, anxiety, schizophrenia, and autism really

have some common source in low EI? Or (following current clinical practice)

should we deﬁne multiple emotional pathologies that generate different dis-

orders? Distinctive forms of maladaptive emotion regulation are seen in the

classic emotional disorders such as anxiety and depression, in externalising

disorders, and in “social disconnection” disorders. Each of these three classes

of disorder also contains various speciﬁc disorders that should be distin-

guished from one another. In fact, working with a more differentiated con-

ception of multiple emotional competencies seems more promising.

Furthermore, it is unclear exactly what the theory of EI predicts. On the

one hand, the simplest assumption is that, if we link physical health and

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 19

Association of Applied Psychology.

emotional disorders to low EI, these conditions should relate to some general

impairment in emotional perception, understanding, or regulation. On the

other hand, if some over-sensitivity to emotion is implicated in physical and

clinical disorders, then we would predict enhancements in perception (Joor-

mann & Gotlib, 2006). The theory does not appear to be speciﬁed in sufﬁcient

detail to make sense of the complex empirical ﬁndings.

Fissures in EI Assessment and Research Methodology. One ﬁnding

observed in our review of the current EI research literature is that the mag-

nitude of the relationship between EI and both well-being and health out-

comes is measure dependent. Speciﬁcally, these outcomes are more strongly

correlated with trait than with ability measures of EI. Indeed, previous

research has shown that trait and ability measures sometimes fail to converge

and even yield diametrically opposite results (Zeidner, Shani-Zinovich, Mat-

thews, & Roberts, 2005). This state of affairs is problematic, suggesting that

the different measures may in fact be assessing different constructs (Zeidner

et al., 2009).

The studies reviewed are also plagued by common method construct vari-

ance. It is plausible that self-report studies rely on the person’s self-reports of

their subjective well-being and adaptive social functioning, which may be

biased by self-appraisals. That is, social well-being may correlate with ques-

tionnaire measures of EI precisely because both types of measure reﬂect how

positive the person’s self-opinions are.

Furthermore, much of the variance in many of the “emotional intelligence”

dimensions measured by extant questionnaires may simply reﬂect general

personality, as pointed out in McCrae’s (2000) conceptual analysis of the

overlaps with the FFM. Thus, the substantial effect sizes reported in the

meta-analyses (Martins et al., 2010) are rather misleading; incremental validi-

ties for trait EI over the FFM appear to be modest. Future research needs to

statistically control for both personality and ability factors in assessing the

relationship between EI, health, and well-being. Some facets of EI appear to

be more distinct from the FFM than others (Zeidner et al., 2009), so it is

unfortunate that some researchers continue to work solely with global trait

EI measures. We agree with Downey et al. (2010) that working with EI

subscales or subfactors may allow for more meaningful interpretation than

working with composite total EI scores. As our re-analysis of the Greven

et al. (2008) data set shows, researchers may also need to take more care to

avoid mutual contamination of predictor and criterion; naturally, well-being

scales will predict well-being outcomes. More powerful validation techniques

also require the use of objective measures (cf. Mikolajczak et al., 2007).

Minimal Clinical Utility of EI. Current health and clinical psychology

are practically useful precisely because they specify underlying mechanisms as

20 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

well as descriptive accounts of symptoms. The trained health or clinical

psychologist can, ideally, ﬁnd a training programme to strengthen adaptive

coping strategies or correct self-defeating coping strategies (or the psychia-

trist can recommend a drug to treat an abnormal brain process). Although

there is growing interest in therapies that directly address emotional dysfunc-

tion (Greenberg & Pascual-Leone, 2006) as opposed to their neural or cog-

nitive antecedents, the study of EI has not yet led to major innovations in

treatment of dysfunctional health behaviours or therapy of affective, impul-

sive, or social disorders (Vachon & Bagby, 2007). Furthermore, recent studies

demonstrating the ease with which high scores on trait EI measures may be

faked (Grubb & McDaniel, 2007) suggests their unsuitability for any high-

stakes clinical assessment (e.g. in forensic psychology).

Directions for Future Research

Based on the ﬁssures, shortcomings, pitfalls, and unresolved issues detailed

above, we now point out some needed directions for future research.

Uncovering Processes. Future research needs to pinpoint the speciﬁc

processes through which EI impacts upon well-being and health. Thus,

research should uncover whether processes for emotion regulation operate

differently in healthy vs. unhealthy or normal vs. depressed individuals,

and how these processes shape physical and emotional symptoms. There

are a variety of different possibilities, and different health problems or emo-

tional disorders may be associated with different abnormalities in emotion

regulation.

Processes speciﬁcally linked to EI may play a key role that has been missed

in existing accounts of vulnerability or resilience. Does the inability to read

other people’s emotions or express one’s own emotions generate ill health,

distress, or emotional pathology? Or, instead, does the inability to manage

emotions constructively generate unhappiness, poor health, or pathological

disturbances? Future research might identify process factors underlying func-

tions of emotion perception, expression, understanding, and regulation,

which increase vulnerability to disorder.

Improving Assessment and Research Design. Answering causal questions

of the kind discussed above requires fairly substantial longitudinal studies

that can determine whether EI or other personal factors precede the devel-

opment of well-being or health status, or vice versa. Such studies have not

yet been systematically conducted in relation to the role of EI. Also, the role

of mediating and moderating factors is still unclear and future research

needs to systematically test for these factors. Thus, future research is sorely

needed to determine whether EI is a cause or an effect of well-being and

THE EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE, HEALTH, AND WELL-BEING NEXUS 21

Association of Applied Psychology.

health outcomes. Various causal possibilities are plausible, but evidence is

lacking. Associations between EI and childhood temperamental qualities

such as poor effortful control or sociability may substantiate a causal inﬂu-

ence of EI. Longitudinal studies that assess both EI and well-being and

health outcomes over time are sorely needed to help disentangle the cause–

effect conundrum.

Furthermore, many of the theoretical accounts for the role of mediating

factors underlying the EI–health and well-being relationships have been prof-

fered on a post-hoc basis. Most studies have failed to directly test for medi-

ating effects via state-of-the-art procedures for assessing mediating effects

(Hayes, 2009). Future research needs better a priori-theorising and hypoth-

esising about mediating effects of EI on adaptive outcomes.

The sheer number of self-report measures so far developed in this ﬁeld,

without attendant concerns for validity evidence, suggests that it is time to

call for a moratorium on the development of still further instruments of this

type. Developing further objective measures of EI would appear to be an

important future research endeavor.

Improving the Clinical Utility of EI. Future research is needed to show

how EI may be more successfully applied to improvement in health and

clinical practice. Given the relationship between EI and health-related behav-

iours, interventions designed to improve identiﬁcation and regulation of

emotions may be valuable for improving health behaviours and health out-

comes. Such methods might be especially valuable for alexithymic patients,

or for anxious and depressed patients in whom mood-regulation is maladap-

tive. Another promising therapeutic avenue is to focus on emotion expres-

sion, addressing difﬁculties such as constriction of expression, traumatic

emotions, and interpersonal hostility. Thus far, the needed translational

research on EI is lacking.

A Final Caveat

Despite much enthusiasm in the media, trade texts, and even psychological

handbooks, some caution and scepticism is needed. As we have previously

suggested (Zeidner et al., 2009), emotional intelligence may be nothing more

than old wine packaged in new and glittering containers. In fact, there is a

real danger that EI may be no more than a fad of the type common in

business, education, and health domains (Murphy & Sideman, 2006). While

the optimist may believe that EI is here to stay, the pessimist may believe that

EI will burn out before too long. One way or the other, current research has

shed considerable light on the nexus of associations between EI, health, and

well-being, and future research is surely needed to help resolve the many

issues that are still outstanding.

22 ZEIDNER ET AL.

Association of Applied Psychology.

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The Relationship between Coping Strategies and State Anxiety during COVID-19 Lockdown: The Role of Perceived Emotional Intelligence

Article

Full-text available

May 2024

Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an unprecedented and unexpected change all around the globe. The long-term effects are still ongoing, especially those related to the confinement measures. The study took place during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Italy, where everyone was forced to stay home in order to reduce the spread of the virus. The aim was to investigate the role of perceived emotional intelligence abilities (PEI) in coping with COVID-19-related anxiety. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed, and this study used an online survey launched through social networks, inviting adults to participate. The participants anonymously completed a three-scale online measurement of self-reported emotional abilities, coping strategies (approach and avoidance), and state anxiety towards COVID-19. Results: perceived emotional intelligence and approach coping significantly predicted state anxiety. In addition, perceived emotional intelligence mediated the relationship between approach coping and state anxiety. Conclusions: the study highlights the positive role of perceived emotional abilities in dealing with the unprecedented event represented by the COVID-19 pandemic, and in particular, in coping with anxiety related to lockdown and confinement. Their results highlight the importance of fostering emotional intelligence for navigating critical life events.

Exploring the interplay of emotional intelligence, psychological resilience, perceived stress, and life satisfaction: A cross-sectional study in the Turkish context

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2024

Background Emotional intelligence and life satisfaction are essential components for good psychological well-being. Studies examining the elements contributing to emotional intelligence and its relationships with different psychological constructs are likely to positively contribute to mental health. Therefore, the present study examined the mediating roles of perceived stress and psychological resilience in the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. Methods The study sample comprised 780 university students (62.3% females) studying at universities in different regions of Türkiye. An online survey included the Emotional Intelligence Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, Psychological Resilience Scale, and Perceived Stress Scale. A multifactorial complex predictive correlational design was used. Results The results showed that emotional intelligence was (i) positively correlated with life satisfaction and psychological resilience, and (ii) negatively correlated with perceived stress. In the final model, perceived stress and psychological resilience played a mediating role in the relationship between emotional intelligence and life satisfaction. The findings suggest that higher emotional intelligence may lower perceived stress and appears to have a positive effect in relation to life satisfaction and psychological resilience. Conclusion Individuals working in the field of mental health need to help individuals increase their level of EI, which may help reduce the level of perceived stress and increase psychological resilience and life satisfaction.

The role of mentoring in developing leaders’ emotional intelligence: exploring mentoring types, emotional intelligence, organizational factors, and gender

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2024

Emotional awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, and resilience are key components of emotional intelligence. Twenty-first-century leaders require such competencies, and prior research establishes a positive impact of emotional intelligence on leadership and well-being. The mechanisms through which leaders develop these competencies remain unclear. Mentoring, a developmental tool linked with well-being, has not been extensively studied for its role in emotional intelligence development. The current study investigates this relationship within the context of vocational education and training in South Africa. The mentoring framework includes individual, peer group, and key performance area mentoring. In previous research on this mentoring framework, leaders perceived emotional well-being as the most important outcome of mentoring and development, constituting another vital factor. Data were collected from a treatment group of leaders who have participated in the mentoring framework and a control group of leaders and lecturers (N = 139). The present study used exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to validate the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test within this context. In the next step, we employed descriptive analysis to answer which mentoring type was best perceived to support emotional intelligence. Using the Mann–Whitney U test, we tested for significant differences in the identified factors between treatment and control group. Mediated and moderated mediation analyses explored variables such as gender, occupational role, organization, and work sector. Results indicate a six-factor structure of emotional intelligence, with significant differences observed between groups in the factor empathy difficulty. Peer group mentoring emerged as an effective method for emotional intelligence development among leaders. The perceived importance of emotional intelligence for one’s job position, the organization, and the work sector mediated five of the six factors. The moderated mediation analyses showed an indirect effect of gender, where being male was associated with more trustworthy visionary and empathy. The findings underscore the significance of peer mentoring practices and organizational factors in nurturing emotional intelligence, highlighting its value for personal and organizational well-being. Overall, the study sheds light on developing emotional intelligence at all organizational levels to support individual and collective well-being.

The Trait Emotional Intelligence As An Indicator For Mental Health Within Saudi Society: Assessment Study

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2024

This study aimed to verify the credibility of the Petrides’ model for emotional intelligence as an indicator of mental health in Saudi Arabia. The study also aimed to determine the Convergent and Concurrent veracity of the scale structure considering the mental health index and listed mental disorders. The study sample comprised 170 students. The study Arabized the Trait Emotional Intelligence Scale by Petrides and Furnham (2001), the Inventory of Psychiatric Disorders by Asghari et al. (2008) and the Mental Health Index. It verified the validity and consistency of the tools. The scale has been highlighted as problematic in terms of the discriminant validity of the emotional intelligence scale. The findings determined that demographic variables, such as specialization, gender, and age did not affect the trait model of emotional intelligence. The study also evaluated the internal validity of the model regarding the mental health index and its external validity relative to the listed mental disorders.

Emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, depression and anxiety, and satisfaction with life among emerging adults in Israel and India: the impact of gender and individualism/collectivism

Article

Full-text available

Jun 2024

Much research has focused on how emotional and spiritual intelligences promote well-being and help combat mental health issues. This comparative study, which was conducted in Israel and India with emerging adults enrolled in higher education, explored the relationship of emotional intelligence, spiritual intelligence, anxiety and depression, and satisfaction with life. The results in Israel showed a positive correlation of emotional intelligence with satisfaction with life, but in India, only spiritual intelligence correlated positively with satisfaction with life. In both groups, female participants scored higher on all variables than male participants. We offer initial explanations for these results.

Investigating the Relationship between ESG Performance and Financial Performance: Evidence from Listed Mining Companies in Zimbabwe

Article

Full-text available

Jan 2024

Chronic Pain and its relationship with psychological well-being: The protective role of perceived emotional intelligence

Article

Full-text available

May 2024

Chronic pain encompasses any condition or pathology that includes suffering from pain for a period of no less than three months that affects personal, work and family life. Psychological well-being is one of the most affected aspects in people suffering from chronic pain and the development of good emotional intelligence may be a protective factor for this well-being. The aim of this study was to test whether there are differences in Psychological Well-being and Perceived Emotional Intelligence between university students with chronic pain and those without pathologies, and to analyse whether Perceived Emotional Intelligence can explain the variability in the psychological well-being of students with chronic pain. A total of 101 people participated in the study (mean age = 23 years; SD = 4.6), 53 with chronic pain and 48 without previous pathologies. A descriptive-correlational study was conducted in which participants had to complete a survey on a voluntary basis. The results showed differences in Self-acceptance and

Relationship Between Post-Traumatic Growth And Emotional Intelligence Among The Youth Of Kashmir With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Article

May 2024

The study aims to determine relationship between emotional intelligence and post-traumatic growth (PTG) among young people in Kashmir who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. The study's sample consists of 80 youth between ages from 18 to 25, who have been clinically diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Sample was collected from Kashmir Advanced Scientific Research Center (KASRC) which was divided into two groups 40 males and 40 females for the study. Information was gathered for this study using semi-structured sociodemographic data sheet, Schulte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) and Post-traumatic Growth Inventory. The findings indicate a strong and favorable correlation between post-traumatic growth and emotional intelligence. These findings have significant implications for developing targeted interventions meant to enhance mental health among youth of Kashmir

Emotional Competence Self-Help Mobile App Versus Cognitive-Behavioural Self-Help App Versus Self-Monitoring App to Prevent Depression in Young Adults with Elevated Risk (ECoWeB PREVENT): An International Parallel Open Label Randomised Controlled Trial

Preprint

Jan 2024

Supportive care needs and anxious-depressive symptoms in cancer patients: An interaction effect between emotional competence and the COVID-19 pandemic?

Article

Full-text available

May 2024

The main objective was to assess the link between emotional competence (EC) and adjustment outcomes such as supportive care needs (SCN) and anxious–depressive symptoms in cancer patients starting chemotherapy. The second objective was to assess the interaction effect between EC and the COVID‐19 pandemic (i.e. patients included before or during the pandemic) on these outcomes. At the beginning of care, 255 patients with digestive or hematological cancer, recruited before the pandemic began ( n = 156, 61.2%) or during the pandemic ( n = 99, 38.8%), completed the Short Profile of Emotional Competence, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Supportive Care Needs Survey Short Form. Partial correlations and multiple regressions were used. Intrapersonal EC showed negative significant correlations with psychological unmet SCN ( r = −.32, p < .001), anxiety ( r = −.37, p < .001), and depression ( r = −.46, p < .001). Interpersonal EC showed only significant interaction effects ( p < .05): it was only associated with fewer unmet physical and daily SCN ( p < .002) and fewer depressive symptoms ( p < .004) during pandemic. Results show significant associations between intrapersonal EC and better adjustment of cancer patients from the early stage of care. Interpersonal EC seems to be a significant resource to deal with illness only in difficult contexts such as the COVID‐19 pandemic.

Health Complaints, Stress, and Distress: Exploring the Central Role of Negative Affectivity

Article

Full-text available

Apr 1989

Most current models in health psychology assume that stress adversely affects physical health. We re-examined this assumption by reviewing extensive data from the literature and from six samples of our own, in which we collected measures of personality, health and fitness, stress, and current emotional functioning. Results indicate that self-report health measures reflect a pervasive mood disposition of negative affectivity (NA);self-report stress scales also contain a substantial NA component. However, although NA is correlated with health complaint scales, it is not strongly or consistently related to actual, long-term health status, and thus will act as a general nuisance factor in health research. Because self-report measures of stress and health both contain a significant NA component, correlations between such measures likely overestimate the true association between stress and health. Results demonstrate the importance of including different types of health measures in health psychology research.

What We Know about Emotional Intelligence: How it Affects Learning, Work, Relationships, and Our Mental Health

Article

Full-text available

Mar 2012

Emotional intelligence (or EI)--the ability to perceive, regulate, and communicate emotions, to understand emotions in ourselves and others--has been the subject of best-selling books, magazine cover stories, and countless media mentions. It has been touted as a solution for problems ranging from relationship issues to the inadequacies of local schools. But the media hype has far outpaced the scientific research on emotional intelligence. In What We Know about Emotional Intelligence, three experts who are actively involved in research into EI offer a state-of-the-art account of EI in theory and practice. They tell us what we know about EI based not on anecdote or wishful thinking but on science. What We Know about Emotional Intelligence looks at current knowledge about EI with the goal of translating it into practical recommendations in work, school, social, and psychological contexts.

Emotional attention, clarity, and repair: Exploring emotional intelligence using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale.

Chapter

Jan 1995

What We Know about Emotional Intelligence: How It Affects Learning, Work, Relationships, and Our Mental Health

Book

Jan 2009

Emotional Intelligence: Science and Myth

Book

Nov 2002

Emotional intelligence (EI) is one of the most widely discussed topics in current psychology. Although first mentioned in the professional literature nearly two decades ago, in the past five years it has received extensive media attention. The term "emotional intelligence" refers to the ability to identify, express, and understand emotions; to assimilate emotions into thought; and to regulate both positive and negative emotions in oneself and others. Yet despite the flourishing research programs and broad popular interest, scientific evidence for a clearly identified construct of EI is sparse. It remains to be seen whether there is anything to EI that researchers in the fields of personality, intelligence, and applied psychology do not already know. This book offers a comprehensive critical review of EI. It examines current thinking on the nature, components, determinants, and consequences of EI, and evaluates the state of the art in EI theory, research, assessment, and applications. It highlights the extent to which empirical evidence supports EI as a valid construct and debunks some of the more extravagant claims that appear in the popular media. Finally, it examines the potential use of EI to guide practical interventions in various clinical, occupational, and educational settings. Bradford Books imprint

Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders: a Step-By-Step Treatment Manual (4th edn)

Article

May 2009

Gavin Andrews

[⇓][1] ![Figure][2] ‘Books’, says Wessely, ‘are not very important for us’ (‘And now the book reviews’, British Journal of Psychiatry 2000; 177, 388–89). For once he is wrong. This is the fourth edition of what has become a standard American text, well nearly so – the

Current directions in emotional intelligence research

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Jan 2000

The fakability of Bar-On's emotional quotient inventory short form: Catch me if you can

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Jan 2008

Coping intelligently

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Jan 1999

The history and background of health psychology

Article

Jan 2007

The Emotional Intelligence, Health, and Well‐Being Nexus: What Have We Learned and What Have We Missed?

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