Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form: Brazilian Validation and Measurement Invariance between the United Kingdom and Latin-American Datasets

The location of emotional intelligence measured by EQ-i in the personality and cognitive space: Are there gender differences?

Introduction

Emotional Intelligence (EI) is first described by Salovey and Mayer as the ability to perceive and understand emotions and the ability to use them as supports for thoughts. Despite the great notoriety of EI, its definition remains not completely clear. An operative definition of EI can be achieved by studying its connection with other individual characteristics such as gender, personality traits, and fluid intelligence.

Methods

The sample was composed of 1,063 Italian subjects. A total of 330 participants were employed (31.0%; 57.9% men) and 702 were university students (66.0%; 38.7% men). The Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i), one of the most used questionnaires in literature, was used to measure EI. The exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) was used to assess the role of personality traits (five-factor model of personality) and fluid intelligence in EI. Statistical analyses on differences between men and women means of total and subscale EQ-i scores were estimated to evaluate whether EI, measured by EQ-i, is influenced by gender. Furthermore, a Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted to assess measurement invariance in relation to gender groups.

Results

Emotional Intelligence, measured by EQ-i, is prevalently connected with personality traits rather than fluid intelligence. Furthermore, men outperformed women in the Intrapersonal and Stress Management EI factors, and women outperformed men in the Interpersonal EI factor. No difference in the means of the EI total score and EI latent general factor did not differ between gender groups.

Conclusion

Emotional Intelligence, measured by EQ-i, can be conceptually considered as a Trait EI. Furthermore, men are more capable to cope with negative events and to control impulses, while women are more able to distinguish, recognize, and comprehend others' emotions.

Trait emotional intelligence in American pilots

There is a dearth of trait emotional intelligence (trait EI) research within an aviation context. Using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), the present study investigated potential trait EI differences between pilots and general population controls in the United States. The forty-four pilots who volunteered to participate were primarily male (93%) and between 24 and 67 years with a wide range of flight experience (150–5000 + hrs.) They were matched with controls based on age, gender, and ethnicity. Comparisons on global trait EI and the four trait EI factors revealed significant differences, with pilots scoring consistently lower than their matched counterparts in global trait EI, Well-being, Emotionality, and Sociability, but not Self-control. Overall, the findings indicated that pilots felt less connected to their emotional world than controls. Though limited by sample size and participant diversity, the results provide a basis for future studies into the trait EI profile of pilots, which had not been previously investigated.

Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) in a Brazilian Sample

The study of the relationship between reasoning and emotional processes is not new in Psychology. There are currently two main approaches to understanding the aspects related to these processes called emotional intelligence: the ability model and the trait model. This study focuses on the latter, analyzing the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) in a Brazilian sample. 4314 adults with ages ranging from 18 to 60 years (M = 30.37; SD = 9.73) answered the TEIQue and other online instruments measuring emotional regulation, impulsiveness, alexithymia, loneliness, quality of life, positive and negative affect, personality traits, emotional perception, emotional understanding, and reasoning tests. The original four-factor structure of the TEIQue was replicated, Cronbach's alphas ranged from 0.60 to 0.89 for the facets, and from 0.76 to 0.90 for the factors and global score. The correlations followed theoretically expected directions, showing a stronger pattern for self-report measures than for performance tasks. Our results corroborated previous studies with the TEIQue, confirming the psychometric adequacy of the instrument in the Brazilian context. Future studies may focus on participants with lower levels of education and additional external criteria, such as career preferences, job performance, and health.

An item response theory analysis of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short-Form (TEIQue-SF) in the workplace

Trait emotional intelligence (EI) predicts important outcomes in the workplace. This study is the first one that reports item and scale functioning in the workplace using item response theory (IRT) analysis of the global 30-item Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire Short-Form (TEIQue-SF). Past IRT research, performed mostly on undergraduate English-speaking students, showed that several items in TEIQue-SF were poorly informative. Data collected in Sweden from 972 employed persons were analyzed. IRT with a graded response model was utilized to analyze items of the global TEIQue-SF scale. As was found in past research, the lowest response category in all items had extreme difficulty threshold parameter values, and only low and moderate levels of latent trait EI were adequately captured, but most items had good values of the discrimination parameters, indicating adequate item informativeness. Four items, which in past research have also shown weak psychometric properties, were poorly informative. To effectively measure trait EI in today's organizations, there is an advantage in using the most informative items to best represent this construct.

Role of emotional intelligence and grit in life satisfaction

BACKGROUND

There is a pressing need to study life satisfaction in the context of collectivistic culture, particularly of undergraduate students. Various socio-cultural factors influence the level of emotional intelligence and grit of an individual. Even though a wide array of research on life satisfaction is available, it hasn't been studied in relation to grit and emotional intelligence (as conceptualized by Bar On), both of which can be acquired and enhanced over time. To the best of researcher's knowledge, a research that collectively studies emotional intelligence, grit and life satisfaction in the context of a collectivistic culture has not been carried out.

METHOD

The study discusses the relationship between emotional intelligence (as conceptualized by Bar-On), grit and life satisfaction. Scales employed to investigate the relationship between each of the constructs include Scale of Emotional Intelligence (SEI), 12-item Grit scale and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). 350 undergraduate students were selected through random sampling. Statistical analyses included Pearson Product Moment Coefficient of correlation, Independent Sample t-test, one-way between group analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression.

RESULTS

The study concludes that the two constructs, i.e. emotional intelligence and grit, are weakly related to life satisfaction, r(348)=.25, p<.01 and r(348)=.22, p<.01 respectively. A moderately strong association is found between emotional intelligence and grit r(348)= .46, p<.01. Significant gender differences are found in emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence and grit are not influenced by academic majors and academic years. Emotional intelligence and grit can influence life satisfaction by a variance of 15.6%. Participant's age ranged from 18 to 26 years (M = 21.20, SD = 1.62).

CONCLUSION

The study concludes that emotional intelligence and grit have a moderately strong association with one another. Emotional intelligence and grit positively influence the level of satisfaction experienced by an individual, however small it maybe. The study presents important insight into each of the primary constructs within the cultural context of Pakistan. The results also highlight the importance of educating Pakistani individuals regarding improving emotional intelligence and grit. Both emotional intelligence and grit are learnable and teachable, which means that individuals can be educated to help them improve their performance and subjective well-being. Parents, educators and health professionals can also benefit from findings of this study, in a way that they can identify areas of emotional intelligence and grit that can be enhanced in order for the children, students and clients, respectively, to achieve better well-being and individual effectiveness.