Low emotional intelligence as a predictor of substance-use problems

Electrophysiological correlates of the disrupted processing of anger in alcoholism

OBJECTIVE

Recent studies have shown that alcoholism is characterized by a deficit in the processing of emotional facial expressions (EFE), and that this deficit could be "emotion specific". The present study explored the hypothesis that there is a specific deficit for the EFE of anger compared to another negative emotion (disgust). Moreover, on the basis of event-related potentials (ERPs), this study aimed at determining the locus of this deficit in the information-processing stream.

METHODS

Fifteen patients suffering from alcoholism and fifteen matched healthy controls took part in the study, which used a "modified emotional" oddball paradigm. ERPs were recorded in response to repetitions of a particular facial expression (i.e. anger) and in response to two deviant (rare) stimuli obtained by a morphing procedure, one depicting the same emotion as the frequent stimulus, the other depicting a different emotion (i.e. disgust). The participants' task was to press a key as soon as they spotted the deviant stimulus.

RESULTS

Behavioural data showed an absence of categorical perception effect for anger (but not for disgust) stimuli among alcoholic patients. Moreover, electrophysiological data revealed that alcoholism is associated with an impaired processing of anger at the attentional level (N2b/P3a complex), extending to the decisional level (P3b).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated disturbed processing of anger in alcoholism, at behavioural and electrophysiological levels. These preliminary results strengthen the proposition of a specific deficit for anger, and localize its possible origin to the attentional level (N2b/P3a complex) of the information processing stream. The clinical implications of these results are discussed.

Emotional intelligence: a moderator of perceived alcohol peer norms and alcohol use

This study investigated the roles of emotional intelligence and perceived alcohol peer norms in relation to alcohol use. Two hundred and forty-two undergraduates completed the Campus Survey of Alcohol and Other Drug Norms (Core Institute, 1997) and the Emotional Intelligence Scale (Schutte, Malouff, Hall, Haggerty, & Cooper, 1998). Contrary to emerging research findings, emotional intelligence (EI) was not directly associated with the study's alcohol-use variables. However, the moderating role of EI was supported in the relationship between perceived alcohol peer norms and students' alcohol use. Among college students with lower EI, there was a significantly stronger association between these variables, compared to students with higher EI.

Self-deception among men who are mandated to attend a batterer intervention program

TOPIC

Intimate partner violence continues to be a confounding national health problem, especially for women and children. Certified batterers' intervention programs are one means currently being used to combat intimate partner violence.

METHOD

Existential phenomenology was utilized in this qualitative study to gain an understanding of the perceptions of the perpetrator prior to beginning a batterer intervention program.

FINDINGS

The batterer's experience is divided into two major themes: lack of justification of behaviors toward him and minimization and justification of his behaviors toward the victim and others.

CONCLUSIONS

It is hoped that obtaining this understanding will encourage program personnel working in the area of batterers' intervention programs to include more emotional skills training within such programs, thus improving the quality of life for victims, perpetrators, and their families.

The moderating impact of emotional intelligence on free cortisol responses to stress

The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) refers to the individual differences in the perception, processing, regulation and utilization of emotional information. Several studies have found that trait EI was a significant moderator of subjective responses (e.g., mood deterioration, emotional intensity, action tendencies, bodily sensations) to both natural and laboratory stressors. The present study aims at extending these findings by examining whether trait EI also moderates the biological (i.e., cortisol) response to stress. To this end, 56 participants were assigned to either a neutral or a stressful condition (public speech task) and psychological and cortisol reactivity were examined. Results revealed that higher trait EI scores were associated with significantly lower reactivity to stress at both psychological (i.e., mood deterioration) and biological (i.e., salivary cortisol) levels. Additional analyses revealed that trait EI had incremental validity to predict stress reactivity over and above social desirability, alexithymia and the five-factor model of personality.

Frontal electroencephalogram activation asymmetry, emotional intelligence, and externalizing behaviors in 10-year-old children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relations among resting frontal brain electrical activity (EEG) (hypothesized to reflect a predisposition to positive versusnegative affect and ability to regulate emotions), emotional intelligence, and externalizing behaviors in a sample of non-clinical 10-year-old children. We found that boys had significantly lower emotional intelligence than girls, and low emotional intelligence was associated with significantly more externalizing behaviors (i.e., aggression and delinquency), replicating previous work. We also found that children with higher reported externalizing behaviors exhibited significantly greater relative right frontal EEG activity at rest compared with children with little to no externalizing behavioral problems. There was, however, no relation between emotional intelligence and the pattern of resting frontal EEG activity. Thus, emotional intelligence and the pattern of frontal EEG activation at rest are independent predictors of externalizing behaviors in children. Findings also suggest that individual differences in emotional intelligence may not be based on differences in levels of emotional regulation or the generation of positive affect as reflected in frontal EEG asymmetries, but rather other social and cognitive competencies required for adaptive behavior.

Gambling Control Self-efficacy as a Mediator of the Effects of Low Emotional Intelligence on Problem Gambling

This study investigated whether lower emotional intelligence would be related to less self-efficacy to control gambling and more problem gambling and whether gambling self-efficacy would mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence and problem gambling. A total of 117 participants, including 49 women and 68 men, with an average age of 39.93 (SD = 13.87), completed an emotional intelligence inventory, a gambling control self-efficacy scale, and a measure of problem gambling. Lower emotional intelligence was related to lower gambling self-efficacy and more problem gambling. Gambling control self-efficacy partially mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and problem gambling.