Emotional intelligence and psychological and social adjustment in adolescence: The role of emotional perception.

Abstract

Emotional intelligence (IE), defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand and regulate emotions, has shown a positive influence on the people´s psychological and social adjustment in the specialized literature. However, most of the work has been carried out with adult samples and few investigations have examined this issue with adolescent population. The aim of this paper was to analyze the influence of emotional perception, an ability of EI, on the adolescent´s personal and social adjustment. A sample of 255 Spanish adolescents completed a maximum performance test of emotional perception and different scales measuring personal and social adjustment. Results of correlation and regression analyses showed that adolescents with higher ability to perceive emotions reported having better relationships with peers and parents, lower social stress, higher self-confidence and higher perceived competence. Moreover, emotional perception significantly predicted adolescents’ adjustment even when the effects of sex, age, and personality were controlled for. The findings suggest that emotional intelligence is a promising predictor of adolescent adjustment and may serve as a useful resource for preventive and treatment interventions.