هوش هیجانی و رضایت از زندگی در دانشجویان چینی: نقش واسطه عزت نفس و حمایت اجتماعی

This study examined both the mediation effects of social support and self-esteem for the relationship between trait emotional intelligence and life satisfaction in late adolescence. The participants were 489 Chinese college students with an age range of 17–23 years. Data were collected by using the Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, the Multi-Dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Path analysis showed that social support and self-esteem fully mediated the relationship between trait EI and life satisfaction in late adolescence. Moreover, a multi-group analysis indicated that the males with high social support are more likely to gain greater life satisfaction than the female counterparts. Implications for future research and limitations of the present findings are discussed.

In the past ten years, emotional intelligence (EI) has received much attention in the psychological literature and beyond (e.g., Petrides et al., 2007 and Saklofske et al., 2003). There are two different conceptualizations of EI – i.e., trait EI and ability EI – in the research literature. Trait EI has been conceptualized as a constellation of emotion-related self-perceptions which locates at the lower-levels of personality hierarchies (as measured through self-report measures) (Petrides et al., 2007). Ability EI has been defined as a cognitive ability which concerns one’s actual ability to perceive, use, understand, and manage emotions in the self and others (as measured through maximum performance tests). Previous studies found very low correlations between these two measures (e.g., Gohm, Corser, & Dalsky, 2005), indicating that trait EI and ability EI are two distinctive constructs. The present study focused on trait EI and used a self-report questionnaire to assess the construct.