Abstract
BackgroundThere is little research on differences in Emotional Intelligence (EI) ability at different stages of adult development. The few published studies tend not to use older adult samples. Previous studies on EI ability and age have shown contradictory results. Our main objective was to evaluate results in EI ability across different stages of adult development, taking into account gender, depressive symptoms, and educational level.MethodsWe interviewed 166 participants (108 women), 66 of whom were aged 18–30 years, 53 aged 31–60 years, and 40 aged 61–76 years. All were either working or enrolled in colleges at the time of the study. The assessment tools used were the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), a test that assesses performance-based EI, and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale, a tool to evaluate depressive symptoms.ResultsYoung people, women, and participants with a higher educational level achieved higher scores on the MSCEIT. Additionally, depressive symptomatology was only partially associated with the MSCEIT (i.e., with the using emotions branch). However, a subsequent joint analysis of the independent effects of variables age, gender, educational level, and depressive symptomatology and their interactions on MSCEIT total suggests that only educational level and depressive symptomatology were associated with EI ability, with the direct relationship between age and gender with MSCEIT disappearing. Additionally, our study indicated an interaction effect between age and depressive symptoms, showing that participants in age cohorts 18–30 and 31–60 and without depressive symptoms have a higher EI ability.DiscussionOur study suggests that the direct effects of age and gender on EI ability across adult development, using a wide age range, can change or disappear when effects of educational level and depressive symptomatology, and their interactions, are controlled for. Our results also suggest that EI ability is a protective factor against depression in some age cohorts. This novel aspect of our study does not appear in the previous literature. However, prospective studies are needed to verify these findings and examine whether other psychological variables could determine the relations between age, gender and EI ability across adult development.
Highlights
The present study shows that an analysis of the independent effects of variables age, gender, educational level, and depressive symptomatology on Emotional Intelligence (EI) ability indicates that young people, women, and participants with higher educational level achieve higher scores in the Mayer-SaloveyCaruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT), and that depressive symptomatology is only partially associated with EI ability
A subsequent joint analysis of the independent effects of variables age, gender, educational level, and depressive symptomatology and their interactions on the MSCEIT total score suggests that only educational level and depressive symptomatology are associated with EI ability, with the direct relationship between age and gender with EI ability disappearing
In agreement with our first hypothesis, analysis of the independent effects of the age variable on EI ability indicates that older participants (>60 years) have the lowest scores on MSCEIT total and the understanding emotions branch
Summary
The most widely accepted definition of Emotional Intelligence (EI) is as a construct that ‘‘involves the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to promote emotional and intellectual growth’’ (Mayer & Salovey, 1997). Considering the contradictory results of previous research regarding EI ability and age and the fact that very few studies have measured EI ability in older adults, we have performed an exploratory study with the main objective of comparing the MSCEIT scores between young and old people but examining the join influence of gender, the educational level, depressive symptoms, and their interactions on EI scores This objective is important because previous studies have analyzed the independent or the moderation and mediation effects of these different variables on EI ability in older adults (e.g., Cabello et al, 2014; Salguero, Extermera & Fernández-Berrocal, 2012), but not their joint and interaction effects. Participants with depressive symptoms will score lower on EI ability (FernándezBerrocal & Extremera, 2016)
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