We investigated the relationships between trait emotional intelligence (trait EI; TEIQue-SF) and the Big Five personality dimensions (NEO-FFI) in two Dutch samples. Results were consistent with studies conducted with the full forms of the inventories in North America and Britain. Neuroticism was the strongest correlate of trait EI in both samples, followed by Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Openness. Regression analyses confirmed that the overlap between trait EI and the higher-order personality dimensions exceeds 50%, even when the constructs are operationalized via shortened assessments. These results are not only fully in line with trait EI theory, but also support the cross-cultural validity of the TEIQue-SF, and its suitability for the rapid assessment of global trait EI and its four constituent factors.
Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self-efficacy) is defined as a constellation of emotional self-perceptions located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies ( Petrides, Pita & Kokkinaki, 2007). The construct provides a comprehensive operationalization of the affect-related aspects of personality and lies wholly outside the taxonomy of human cognitive ability ( Carroll, 1993). Trait EI essentially concerns individual differences in people’s self-perceptions of their emotional abilities.
Conceptually, an important advantage of trait EI theory is that it links the construct to mainstream scientific models in differential psychology, such as the Big Five and the Giant Three. These links are particularly useful when tackling novel research questions for which there is no prior empirical literature (e.g., Sánchez-Ruiz, Pérez-González, & Petrides, in press). Psychometrically, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), as the main operationalization vehicle of trait EI theory, provides superior criterion and predictive validity relative to other EI questionnaires (see Freudenthaler et al., 2008 and Gardner, in press).
Numerous studies have been conducted with the short form of the TEIQue showing that it correlates positively with orgasmic frequency in women (Burri, Cherkas, & Spector, 2009), general well-being and job satisfaction (Singh & Woods, 2008), relationship satisfaction (Smith, Heaven, & Ciarrochi, 2008), and adaptive styles of humor (Vernon et al., 2009), and negatively with communicative anxiety (Dewaele, Petrides, & Furnham, 2008), Machiavellianism (Alia, Amorima, & Chamorro-Premuzic, 2009), and maladaptive styles of humor (Vernon et al., 2009). It has also been suggested that the TEIQue-SF has an inverted U relationship with reaction time (Austin, 2009) and that it mediates many of the links between personality and general health (Johnson, Batey, & Holdsworth, 2009).
The aim of this report is to examine the relationships between trait EI and the Big Five using the Dutch adaptation of the short form of the TEIQue. The study is important both from a psychometric perspective, given that there have been few systematic investigations of the TEIQue-SF and the Big Five, as well as from a cross-cultural perspective, since this is the first investigation of the TEIQue-SF in a Dutch sample. More particularly, we will be focusing on the zero-order correlations between the five trait EI scores (global trait EI, plus scores on the four factors of Emotionality, Self-control, Sociability, and Well-being) and the Big Five, as well as on multiple regression analyses aiming to determine the overall extent to which the Big Five can predict each of the trait EI variables. We expected that the strongest correlates of trait EI would be Neuroticism, followed by Extraversion and Conscientiousness and that over 50% of the variance in global trait EI scores would be accounted for by a linear combination of the Big Five factors.
