089 Emotional Intelligence in Persons Involved in Sexual Relationships Outside Marriage

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a correlation between sexual relations outside of marriage and a patient’s emotional intelligence (EQ) score before and after an educational 8-week facilitated depression and anxiety recovery program. For the study, data from 9 countries (n=5621), of participants that completed the program was used. Average age was 52.6 [SD 15]. The community program meet once every week for two hours. Activities during the 2-hour program included 1 hour of lecture presented on DVD by a mental health professional, and 1 hour of discussion on a lifestyle topic. At the beginning and end of the program participants filled out a 75-item questionnaire, which measured depression level, anxiety, standardized mini EQ test, and demographics. The questionnaire included the question “Are you involved in sexual relations outside of marriage?”. From the 5621 participants studied at baseline, 6% (n=340) were involved in sexual relations outside of marriage. The 340 that were involved had an initial average EQ score of 94.5 [SD 14.9], minimum of 54, maximum of 135, mode of 86 and median of 94. The rest of the group at baseline, that were not involved in sex outside marriage, had an EQ of 100.6 [SD 15.1], minimum of 50, maximum of 150, mode of 102 and median of 100. At the end of the 8-week program there were 5% (n=263) of the participants that reported that they were involved in sexual relations outside of marriage and 95% (n= 5385) were not involved. Those who were involved had a final EQ score of 102.2 [SD 14.4], minimum of 60, maximum of 144, mode of 102 and median of 102. At the end those who were not involved in sex outside marriage had an EQ score of 109.2 [SD 14.3], minimum of 54, maximum of 150, mode of 110 and median of 110.