research paper on emotional intelligence and stress

An Empirical Study of Emotional Intelligence and Stress in College Students

Business Education & Accreditation, v . 7 (1) pp. 1-11, 2015

12 Pages Posted: 8 Feb 2016

Scott Bryant

Montana State University - Bozeman - College of Business

Timothy I Malone

BNSF Railway Company

Date Written: 2015

A growing body of research indicates that emotional intelligence is an important factor for student success. In this paper, we examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and stress. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found a significant relationship between one dimension of emotional intelligence (use of emotions) and stress. We also found that age and gender impacted emotional intelligence and stress. Findings from this study have implications for students and universities.

Keywords: Emotional Intelligence, Stress, College Students

JEL Classification: M50

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Scott Bryant (Contact Author)

Montana state university - bozeman - college of business ( email ).

446 Reid Hall Bozeman, MT 59715 United States

BNSF Railway Company ( email )

Fort Worth,, TX 76131 United States

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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Does emotional intelligence buffer the effects of acute stress a systematic review.

• 1 School of Psychology, College of Business, Psychology and Sport, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom
• 2 School of Environment, Education and Development, Institute of Education, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

People with higher levels of emotional intelligence (EI: adaptive emotional traits, skills, and abilities) typically achieve more positive life outcomes, such as psychological wellbeing, educational attainment, and job-related success. Although the underpinning mechanisms linking EI with those outcomes are largely unknown, it has been suggested that EI may work as a “stress buffer.” Theoretically, when faced with a stressful situation, emotionally intelligent individuals should show a more adaptive response than those with low EI, such as reduced reactivity (less mood deterioration, less physiological arousal), and faster recovery once the threat has passed. A growing number of studies have begun to investigate that hypothesis in respect to EI measured as both an ability (AEI) and trait (TEI), but results are unclear. To test the “stress-buffering” function of EI, we systematically reviewed experimental studies that explored the relationship between both types of EI and acute stress reactivity or recovery. By searching four databases, we identified 45 eligible studies. Results indicated that EI was only adaptive in certain contexts, and that findings differed according to stressor type, and how EI was measured. In terms of stress reactivity, TEI related to less mood deterioration during sports-based stressors (e.g., competitions), physical discomfort (e.g., dental procedure), and cognitive stressors (e.g., memory tasks), but did not appear as helpful in other contexts (e.g., public speaking). Furthermore, effects of TEI on physiological stress responses, such as heart rate, were inconsistent. Effects of AEI on subjective and objective stress reactivity were often non-significant, with high levels detrimental in some cases. However, data suggest that both higher AEI and TEI relate to faster recovery from acute stress. In conclusion, results provide mixed support for the stress-buffering effect of EI. Limitations and quality of studies are also discussed. Findings could have implications for EI training programmes.

Introduction

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has generated a high level of public and scientific interest, and controversy, ever since its inception ( Salovey and Mayer, 1990 ). EI is an umbrella term that captures how we perceive, regulate, use, and understand our own emotions and the emotions of others ( Zeidner et al., 2009 ). Two competing conceptualisations of EI exist: trait EI (TEI) and ability EI (AEI). TEI refers to a collection of emotional perceptions and dispositions assessed through self-report questionnaires ( Petrides et al., 2007 ). In contrast, AEI is concerned with emotion-related cognitive abilities, measured using maximum performance tests in a similar manner to IQ ( Mayer et al., 2008 ). Because both TEI and AEI predict good health, successful relationships, educational attainment, and work-related success, among other positive life outcomes ( Brackett et al., 2011 ; Petrides et al., 2016 ), higher levels are generally regarded as beneficial. However, key questions remain unanswered. We do not fully understand the mechanisms linking EI to those positive outcomes— how and when is EI useful? While cross-sectional studies are useful for indicating potential relationships between EI and outcomes, they do not explain how EI might help us handle everyday challenges. Furthermore, while the incremental validity of EI is promising in some cases ( Andrei et al., 2016 ; Miao et al., 2018 ), there are concerns that EI may not predict other outcomes any better than related constructs, such as personality and cognitive ability ( Schulte et al., 2004 ). Moreover, a growing literature also warns that EI may have an unhelpful “dark side” ( Davis and Nichols, 2018 ). Given the substantial interest in training EI across the lifespan (e.g., Nelis et al., 2011 ; Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2012 ), it is imperative that we understand more about how EI works, and why it leads to its beneficial effects. To develop the “science” of EI, robust methodology is needed to assess how EI relates to automatic, unconscious emotional processing ( Fiori, 2009 ).

Significance of Acute Stress Reactivity and Recovery

One mechanism through which EI may lead to positive effects is by acting as a “stress buffer” ( Mikolajczak et al., 2009 ). EI may minimize the (acute) stress experienced in demanding situations, or situations perceived as demanding. That hypothesis has been used to explain a wealth of adaptive findings across educational (e.g., transition to secondary school), clinical (e.g., suicidal behaviors), and occupational domains (e.g., burnout) ( Day et al., 2005 ; Cha and Nock, 2009 ; Williams et al., 2009 ). When confronted with a stressor, individuals need to initiate a “fight or flight” response, and then shut off the response once the stressor ceases ( McEwen, 2006 ). The extent to which an individual responds to the stressor—stress reactivity—is an important indicator of physiological and psychological functioning ( Henze et al., 2017 ). However, stress researchers disagree on whether hypo (reduced) or hyper (elevated) reactivity is most adaptive in stressful situations (e.g., Phillips et al., 2013 ; Hu et al., 2016 ). Clearly, some reactivity (i.e., not entirely blunted) is necessary for survival. For non-clinical populations, however, hyperreactivity to acute stress is detrimental in most cases. In the short term, high levels of acute stress can impair clinical decision-making in health professionals ( LeBlanc, 2009 ; Arora et al., 2010 ), and the performance of sports players ( Van der Does et al., 2015 ; Rano et al., 2018 ). Hyperreactivity can also adversely impact memory task performance in controlled experimental settings (e.g., Kuhlmann et al., 2005 ; Tollenaar et al., 2009 ), though not always ( Nater et al., 2006 ).

In the long term, dysregulated responses to everyday stressors can accumulate and cause “wear and tear” on the body ( Chida and Hamer, 2008 ), which can sometimes manifest into psychosomatic pathology. For example, individuals can develop hypertension and atherosclerosis ( Matthews et al., 2004 ; Heopniemi et al., 2007 ; Chida and Steptoe, 2010 ). How quickly people recover, or “bounce back,” from acute stress is another revealing aspect of the stress response ( Linden et al., 1997 ). It is well-established that recovering faster from stressful experiences is more adaptive in most contexts (e.g., Burke et al., 2005 ; Geurts and Sonnentag, 2006 ), as this limits unnecessary exposure to the detrimental downstream effects of the “fight or flight” response (i.e., cortisol, cardiac activity, neural activation; McEwen, 2017 ). Taken together, evidence suggests that reduced reactivity, and faster recovery, can be thought of as the “adaptive” pattern of responding to an acutely stressful stimulus.

Because the stress pathway is complex, acute stress can be generated experimentally in many different ways. Common methods include the Velten technique (where participants read self-evaluative statements, such as “I'm discouraged and unhappy about myself”; Velten, 1968 ), or presenting participants with emotive video clips (e.g., Ramos et al., 2007 ). Other methods are more performance-based. Participants can be instructed to prepare and deliver an impromptu speech (e.g., the “gold standard” Trier Social Stress Test; TSST; Kirschbaum et al., 1993 ). While the above procedures typically take place in the laboratory, some experiments use naturalistic stressors, such as an examination, or a competition (e.g., Lane et al., 2009 ). The specific emotions and physiological outcomes that emerge in a challenging situation are highly idiosyncratic, and depend on many stressor characteristics (i.e., levels of social evaluative threat, cognitive effort required; Denson et al., 2009 ). This makes synthesizing findings from studies that have induced stress differently is challenging.

In addition to acute stress induction, researchers also disagree on how best to measure our responses to acute stressors. The full body response to stress involves both arousal of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and the somewhat faster HPA axis, in addition to the subjective experience (e.g., Baumann and Turpin, 2010 ). Measurements can be broadly considered as either (1) “physiological”; endocrine (e.g., cortisol) and ANS activity (e.g., heart rate, electrodermal activity, EEG), or (2) “psychological”; individual's perceptions of their mental state, assessed via self-report questionnaire. While the former, objective measures are free from self-report biases, the latter, subjective measures are also needed for context. For example, an increase in heart rate can result from both negative (e.g., fear) and positive (e.g., excitement) mental states ( Lane et al., 2009 ). Largely due to practicality, however, many studies focus only one aspect of the stress response (i.e., objective or subjective stress), and rarely consider more than one neuroendocrine system (i.e., ANS or HPA-axis reactivity) ( Campbell and Ehlert, 2012 ).

Acute Stress Responding: A Role for EI?

Researchers are increasingly turning to EI in the search for individual differences that influence stress responding ( Matthews et al., 2017 ). If EI is adaptive in stressful situations, high EI scorers should resond more in line with the adaptive profile (reduced reactivity, faster recovery), compared to low EI scorers. Much research so far has been correlational and/or cross-sectional, often restricted to questionnaire-based studies that test for associations between EI and dispositional stress. In most instances, higher levels of EI, especially TEI, correspond with lower levels of perceived occupational or life stress (e.g., Mikolajczak et al., 2006 ; Extremera et al., 2007 ). However, to substantiate claims of EI as a stress buffer, the process needs to be demonstrated “in action,” using controlled, experimental stress paradigms. While responses to laboratory-induced stress are not of clinical importance on their own, they represent the way that individuals ordinarily respond to everyday challenges, which has implications for adaptation ( Henze et al., 2017 ). Identifying the types of stressful situations in which EI relates to stress responding is the next step in helping us to understand how EI works.

TEI and AEI are conceptually distinct ( Pérez et al., 2005 ), supported by the weak correlations between self-report questionnaires and objective testing for EI (e.g., Brackett et al., 2006 ; Brannick et al., 2009 ). Generally, TEI is more strongly linked to adaptive outcomes than AEI ( Harms and Credé, 2010 ; Martins et al., 2010 ). However, one school of thought suggests that TEI and AEI may work together to achieve positive life outcomes (e.g., Davis and Humphrey, 2012 ). Emotional skills (AEI) may be insufficient on their own. Individuals must also feel confident in those skills (TEI) for them to translate into behavior ( Keefer et al., 2018 ). TEI and AEI may therefore influence stress-related processes differently, or be useful in different contexts. We might expect TEI to be especially useful for buffering reactivity in cognitive or psychosocial stress tasks, based on findings from experimental stress studies concerning self-efficacy, self-esteem, and happiness- positive traits that TEI maps onto (e.g., O'Donnell et al., 2008 ; Panagi et al., 2018 ). Research on AEI and stressor-activated processes is comparably scarce. However, links between AEI and selection of adaptive coping strategies ( Davis and Humphrey, 2012 ) could suggest a role for AEI in stress reactivity and recovery. Constructs allied to AEI, such as emotion regulation ability, have also been linked to more adaptive affective responses to acute stress (e.g., Krkovic et al., 2018 ), but the role of other AEI competencies, as measured according to the AEI model (e.g., emotion perception; emotion understanding), are relatively unexplored. Besides EI conceptualization, other methodological factors are important to consider when determining the role of EI in stress processes. It is necessary to consider how studies induce stress, and how they measure stress reactivity and recovery.

The Current Review

To test the hypothesis that EI buffers the effects of acute stress, all relevant experimental studies need to be systematically sourced and evaluated. The primary aim of the present systematic review, is, therefore, to identify emerging patterns regarding EI and stress reactivity and recovery in experimental studies. In particular, we aim to highlight types of stressful situation in which EI might be especially pertinent. Second, the review aims to examine aspects of methodological variation upon which the relationship between EI and reactivity may depend: EI measurement (TEI; AEI), stress induction paradigms, and stress measurement. Study quality will also be assessed to identify any common methodological study limitations.

Search Strategy

This review followed the PRISMA protocol ( Moher et al., 2009 ). PsycInfo, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete were searched exhaustively for studies investigating EI and stress reactivity. The term emotional intelligence was used, combined with any of the following keywords: stress, mood, affect, emotion * state, emotion regulat * , coping, heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, cortisol, skin conductance, electrodermal activity, EEG, reactivity , or recovery . Reference lists of full text articles were also manually searched. Searches focused on studies published between 1990 and the present day, to correspond with the advent of Salovey and Mayer's paper where the EI concept was first introduced into the scientific psychological literature ( Salovey and Mayer, 1990 ). Database searching took place during July 2018.

Eligibility Criteria

Studies were included in the review if they met four inclusion criteria. First, only primary empirical quantitative research was included (i.e., not reviews, theoretical papers, or meta-analyses). Second, articles were required to define and measure EI explicitly using established models of EI, rather than just a single related facet (e.g., emotion regulation). We focused on overall EI to represent how EI is typically conceptualized with relation to life outcomes ( Brackett et al., 2011 ), and within training programmes (e.g., Nelis et al., 2011 ). Examples of commonly used, acceptable TEI measures include the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue; Petrides, 2009 ), comprised of emotionality, sociability, self-control, and wellbeing subscales, and the Trait Meta Mood Scale (TMMS; Salovey et al., 1995 ), formed of clarity, repair, and attention subscales. Fewer AEI measures are available, the most popular tool being the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; Mayer et al., 2002 ), which provides a four-branch assessment: perceiving emotions, using emotions to facilitate thought, understanding emotions, and managing emotions. Third, the outcome of interest was restricted to acute stress reactivity (i.e., a response to a situational stressor or mood induction). Outcomes could be either psychological (e.g., self-reported negative affect, or perceived stress), or physiological (e.g., cortisol, HR, EDA), or a combination. Fourth, participants were limited to non-clinical populations, to counteract the confounding influence that clinical symptomology can have on the stress response ( Burke et al., 2005 ; De Rooij et al., 2010 ), but the participant sample could be of any age. Articles were also required to be available in full, and in the English language. If articles were unavailable, authors were contacted to request access. Studies were excluded if they did not meet all criteria. Many studies were excluded because they only included a measure of general perceived stress (e.g., work stress, life stress), rather than stress levels following a stress manipulation, or because they measured outcomes other than stress reactivity or recovery (e.g., task performance, coping). The first and second author independently screened the abstracts for suitability, and no inclusion discrepancies were identified. For details of the screening and selection process, see the PRISMA flow chart ( Figure 1 ). Individual studies were appraised using an adapted version of the Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies ( Table 1 ; Effective Public Health Practice Project, 1998 ), owing to its excellent psychometric properties (e.g., Armijo-Olivo et al., 2012 ).

Table 1 . Adapted EPHPP tool for methodological quality of studies (Effective Public Health Practice Project, 1998 ).

Figure 1 . PRISMA 2009 flow diagram of search results ( Moher et al., 2009 ).

Study Characteristics

The search identified 40 papers (45 studies) for inclusion in the review. Publication location spanned 14 countries. Of the included studies, 42 used an adult sample, most of which consisted of university undergraduate students. Only three studies conducted research with younger populations: one with adolescents ages 13–15 years, and two with children ages 7–12 years. Studies varied in terms of EI instrumentation, stress induction procedure, and stress measurement. Figure 2 provides an overview of the stress reactivity studies identified.

Figure 2 . Overview of stress reactivity studies included in the review. AEI, ability emotional intelligence; TEI, trait emotional intelligence; both, measurement of both TEI and AEI; psychological stress reactivity, subjective measurements of reactivity (e.g., affect, mood, self-reported stress); physiological/mixed stress reactivity, objective measurements of stress reactivity (e.g., heart rate, cortisol, electrodermal activity), either alone or used alongside a psychological measure.

EI Instruments

Thirty-four studies (78%) measured TEI, seven (16%) measured AEI, but only three (7%) measured both TEI and AEI. The TEIQue and MSCEIT were the most common tools for assessing TEI, and AEI, respectively. Half of the studies explored contributions from EI from a subscale level, in addition to the global score. Three studies by Papousek et al. (2008 , samples 1 and 2; 2011) used only select subscales from a TEI measure (Self Report Emotional Ability Scale; SEAS: “perception of the emotions of others” and “regulation of one's emotions”). Table 2 details the breadth of tools utilized to measure EI across the review.

Table 2 . EI measurement tools used in the review.

Types of Stressors Used

As expected, methods of stress induction varied between studies (see Figure 2 for examples of stressors used). Fifteen (33%) of the 45 studies in the review used passive methods of mood induction, in which participants viewed, read, or listened to, emotive material, but were not required to actively perform a task. The remaining 30 (67%) studies used either cognitive tasks (12 studies), psychosocial stress (9 studies), or more naturalistic stressors, such as a sporting task (6 studies) or physical discomfort (3 studies).

Stress Measurement

Twenty-nine studies (64%) examined subjective (self-reported) reactivity, eleven examined objective (physiological) reactivity (24%), and six examined both types of reactivity within the same experiment (12%). Generally, participants' acute psychological stress was conceptualized as the change in negative affect (NA) from baseline, for which the most popular mood assessment tool was the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988) , selected by 11 studies. Physiological stress was measured in a number of ways, including: cardiac measures (10 studies), cortisol secretion (6 studies), electro-dermal activity (EDA) (4 studies), or EEG (1 study). Depending on whether EI was conceptualized as a categorical or continuous variable, the principal measure was either the difference in mean reactivity/recovery between high-EI and low-EI individuals, or the relationship between EI and reactivity/recovery.

Synthesized Findings

Studies in the review were principally classified according to the stressor context. Studies were further evaluated according to the type of EI model employed, and the type of stress reactivity assessment. Thus, the results section consists of: (1) Exposure to emotive material, (2) Psychosocial stress, (3) Cognitive tasks, and (4) Naturalistic stress and pain. Study findings relating to recovery from acute stress are considered separately (5). Because some studies explored multiple stress contexts, studies may appear under more than one heading. Where sufficient studies allowed, sections were further divided into subheadings: psychological reactivity, and physiological or mixed reactivity. Here, “mixed” refers to studies that included assessment of both psychological and physiological reactivity.

1. Exposure to Emotive Material (Table 3)

Neither TEI nor AEI robustly predicted reactivity when exposed to visual, mentally recalled, or written emotive material. Some TEI studies indicated that TEI increased reactivity, but others found a negative relationship. AEI did not significantly predict reactivity in either direction.

Table 3 . Studies that measured EI and reactivity during exposure to emotive material.

Psychological reactivity

The relationship between TEI and psychological stress was assessed in many studies. TEI increased reactivity when watching a holocaust documentary ( Petrides and Furnham, 2003 ), and an apartheid clip ( Fernández-Berrocal and Extremera, 2006 ). However, only the clarity subscale of the TMMS (which represents a perceived ability to discriminate clearly between emotions) was significant. Similarly, when participants were asked to recall a regrettable life decision, high TEI individuals presented a stronger emotional reaction ( Sevdalis et al., 2007 , Study 1). TEI also decreased reactivity in some cases, however. Ramos et al. (2007) , Zysberg (2012) , and Schutte et al. (2002 , study 3) showed that high TEI scorers were less reactive to emotive video, images, and negative written statements, respectively. The only study to use an adolescent sample in the review ( Ciarrochi et al., 2001) found no relationship between TEI and mood changes while watching a negative film.

Findings were more complicated when studies considered TEI “profiles”- differing levels of multiple subscales, rather than global TEI or single subscales. Papousek et al. (2008 , sample 1) found that individuals scoring low on emotion perception, but high on emotion regulation, showed reduced psychological reactivity after viewing a sad emotional video clip. The reverse pattern was found for high perception but low on regulation. In essence, individuals who could perceive their emotions accurately, but not regulate them, were affected by the sad film to a greater extent. Gohm (2003, study 1) took a different approach, combining items from several TEI scales to form four “clusters” of participants (“hot,” “overwhelmed,” “cool,” “cerebral”). Of those clusters, “Hot” individuals (scoring high on attention, intensity, and clarity) were more reactive than the three other types when recalling an emotional event. That finding was replicated in a subsequent study ( Gohm, 2003 , study 3).

Two studies examined links between AEI and psychological reactivity to emotional images. In both cases, AEI had no effect on responses ( Zysberg, 2012 ; Limonero et al., 2015) .

Physiological or mixed reactivity

As before, findings were complex when TEI profiles were considered. When viewing sadness-inducing video clips, individuals scoring high on emotion perception, but low on emotion regulation subscales, showed increased cardiac reactivity ( Papousek et al., 2008 , sample 2). In contrast, low perception and high regulation scorers showed reduced reactivity. The same research group ( Papousek et al., 2011 ) also found a relationship between subscales of the TEI and EEG outputs. After watching an anxiety-inducing clip, only those with both high emotion perception and high emotion regulation showed the expected EEG pattern (a shift of PFC asymmetry to the right). Individuals with low scores on these branches showed the most pronounced atypical response (a shift to the left), suggesting greater emotional arousal and poorer emotional regulation. Rash and Prkachin (2013) instead focused on AEI and physiological reactivity to recalling a sad memory. During the recall, individuals scoring highly on the perceiving emotion branch of AEI showed more extreme increases in HR than their low scoring counterparts.

Only one study ( Zysberg, 2012 ) examined the role of both TEI and AEI in the context of both psychological and physiological reactivity. Findings identified different roles for TEI and AEI. When viewing negatively-valenced images, AEI (but not TEI) buffered EDA reactivity, whereas TEI (but not AEI) buffered emotional responses.

2. Psychosocial Stress (Table 4)

Studies in this section induced stress through social evaluation. Most stressors were based on the highly standardized TSST protocol, where participants perform public speaking and mental arithmetic tasks in front of an audience ( Kirschbaum et al., 1993 ). No clear pattern emerged concerning TEI and reactivity to psychosocial stressors. Though studies were limited in number, physiological reactivity appeared to increase as a function of overall AEI.

Table 4 . Studies that measured EI and reactivity to psychosocial stress.

In a small-sample study by Sevdalis et al. (2007 , study 2, n = 24), participants took part in a negotiation task, where all failed by default. TEI failed to predict feelings of regret and disappointment, as assessed via two 5-point rating scales.

Findings were inconsistent with regard to TEI and physiological reactivity. Mikolajczak et al. ( 2009 , study 3) 1 showed that TEI attenuated both cortisol reactivity and mood reactivity to the TSST. However, in a group version of the same task, Thomas et al. (2018) found the opposite: TEI predicted increased cortisol reactivity, but had no impact on HR. Another study showed that the TEI attention to emotion subscale (with items including, “I pay a lot of attention to how I feel”) exacerbated both cortisol and HR reactivity ( Salovey et al., 2002 , Study 3). With regards to AEI, higher levels represented greater cortisol secretion ( Bechtoldt and Schneider, 2016 ) and EDA reactivity ( Ling et al., 2018 ) to speech performances. Schneider et al. (2013) also focused on AEI, but with a particular emphasis on sex differences. Emotional understanding was associated with less mood deterioration in males, whereas emotion management was associated with greater cardiac reactivity in females.

3. Cognitive Tasks (Table 5)

Stressors were classified as cognitive if they primarily assessed a mental process (e.g., attention, memory). Stress was typically induced from the difficulty of the task, and in some cases, it was impossible for the participant to perform well due to unrealistic time restraints, for example. The vast majority of these studies assessed the role of TEI, with most of those limited to psychological reactivity. While TEI buffered psychological reactivity in some computerized tasks, AEI was unrelated to reactivity.

Table 5 . Studies that measured EI and reactivity to cognitive tasks.

TEI buffered the effects of psychological stress in some cases. For example, global TEI score dampened the psychological stress induced by written examinations ( Laborde et al., 2010 ). A similar pattern of findings also applied to multiple laboratory tasks. TEI predicted less mood deterioration following a facial perception task ( Matthews et al., 2015 ), a mathematical puzzle ( O'Connor et al., 2016 ), and a difficult IQ test ( Mikolajczak et al., 2009 , studies 1 and 2). In contrast, TEI was associated with increased distress during a terrorism-themed discrimination task ( Fellner et al., 2012 ). In a computer game where participants received bogus negative feedback on a computerized task, TEI was unrelated to self-reported stress ( Agnoli et al., 2015 ).

AEI was not significantly associated with psychological reactivity to a range of cognitive stressors, including tasks of working memory, vigilance, and impossible anagrams ( Matthews et al., 2006 ). Two studies explored the role of both TEI and AEI in responding to cognitive stressors. The failure task paradigm employed by Davis (2018) indicated non-significant effects for both TEI and AEI on mood changes. However, Fallon et al. (2014) identified that effects of EI on reactivity to a decision-making task were dependent on EI type. While the clarity (e.g., “I am rarely confused about how I feel”) and repair (e.g., “I try to think good thoughts no matter how badly I feel”) subscales of the TMMS TEI measure predicted less psychological stress, AEI was unrelated to reactivity.

TEI did not predict physiological reactivity in two studies that used a computer game to induce stress. On both occasions, EDA and HR reactivity was unrelated to TEI ( Singh and Sharma, 2012 ; Pittarello et al., 2018 ). However, the latter study also considered TEI/IQ combinations, and found that a high TEI/low IQ combination was the most detrimental to cortisol reactivity. In that same study, TEI was associated with lower levels of perceived stress. Thus, while high TEI levels were protective on their own, they became harmful when paired with low IQ.

4. Naturalistic Stress and Pain (Table 6)

Naturalistic stressors were defined as challenges that occurred naturally in the participants' everyday life (e.g., a sporting competition), or challenges that were generated to closely resemble such as situation. Evidence supported a protective role for TEI and AEI in stressful sports and pain-related contexts.

Table 6 . Studies that measured EI and reactivity to naturalistic stressors.

Higher TEI levels were strongly linked to more positive affect (and less negative affect) in sport-based stressors. A series of studies by Lane et al. showed that TEI promoted positive mood states during sports events, including a competition ( Lane et al., 2009 ), a 10-mile running race ( Lane et al., 2010 ), and a 175-mile marathon ( Lane and Wilson, 2011 ). In each case, the high TEI participants had lower levels of negative emotions (e.g., anger, tension), and higher levels of positive emotions (e.g., happiness, calmness), a pattern associated with optimum performance ( Lane et al., 2009 ). Higher employee TEI was also associated with a greater likelihood of experiencing positive emotions following a performance review discussion with a manager ( Salminen and Ravaja, 2017 ).

Three studies examined the role of EI when responding to a painful stimulus. Two of those examined reactivity within a dental setting. During a dental procedure, children with higher TEI were less likely to display negative behavioral responses (e.g., crying, sudden body movements), than low TEI children ( Aminabadi et al., 2011 , 2013 ). The other study found that higher levels of AEI predicted less self-reported negative affect and pain during a cold pressor task, where the participant immerses their hand in freezing cold water ( Ruiz-Aranda et al., 2011 ).

As with psychological reactivity, findings were promising regarding TEI and physiological reactivity in a sporting context. During a pressurized sports activity, near-professional tennis players secreted less cortisol if they had higher TEI ( Laborde et al., 2014 ). The same research group found similar findings with a different approach. Handball players were exposed to an auditory stressor that included negative sports-related sounds, such as crowds hissing ( Laborde et al., 2011 ). When listening, the high TEI athletes experienced less cardiac reactivity compared to their low TEI counterparts.

TEI was less effective in other naturalistic settings. During an assessed presentation as part of an undergraduate psychology course, TEI neither increased nor decreased participants' cortisol levels ( Wilbraham et al., 2018 ). Arora et al. (2011) focused on the capacity of TEI to buffer situational stress for medical students performing unfamiliar surgical tasks. While TEI was unrelated to HR reactivity, higher TEI was associated with increased psychological stress.

5. Stress Recovery

A small number of studies ( n = 6) included some assessment of stress recovery. In four of those cases, high EI individuals recovered faster than low EI individuals. For example, despite showing greater reactivity initially, high TEI individuals showed faster psychological recovery 15 min after watching an anger-provoking video ( Fernández-Berrocal and Extremera, 2006 ), and after completing an unfamiliar task ( Arora et al., 2011 ). However, Thomas et al. (2018) found no link between TEI and recovery 7 min after the group version of the TSST. TEI was related to stronger feelings of regret and disappointment 5 days after a failed negotiation ( Sevdalis et al., 2007 ), a recovery period considerably longer than that used in the other studies. TEI was associated with stressor habituation (reduced reactivity upon extended/repeated exposure). Female university students that scored high on the emotional regulation TEI scale were less reactive when re-watching a distressing video depicting sexual assault that they had seen 2 days previously ( Ramos et al., 2007 ). Another TEI scale—attention to emotions—also promoted habituation to the TSST ( Salovey et al., 2002 , Study 2).

AEI facilitated stress recovery in two studies. Limonero et al. (2015) , assessed mood 15 min after exposure to emotional images. Mood returned to baseline faster for participants with higher scores on facilitation and understanding branches. Similarly, after recalling a sad memory, mood repair was faster when individuals had higher scores on the perception branch ( Rash and Prkachin, 2013 ).

The final review identified 45 studies from 14 countries, from diverse settings including healthcare (e.g., Arora et al., 2011 ), sport (e.g., Lane and Wilson, 2011 ), organizational psychology (e.g., Salminen and Ravaja, 2017 ), and education (e.g., Wilbraham et al., 2018 ). This highlights that EI has cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary pertinence. The discussion section will (1) summarize the main findings, (2) discuss the measurement of EI across the studies reviewed, (3) identify study limitations, (4) discuss the limitations of this review, and, (5) suggest implications for EI in terms of adaptation, and propose future research directions.

Summary of Main Findings

The first aim of the review was to examine the relationship between TEI, AEI, and stress reactivity and recovery. If EI is truly adaptive in acutely stressful conditions, high EI scorers should show the adaptive stress responding profile (i.e., reduced reactivity, faster recovery; Keefer et al., 2018 ). As expected, findings differed according to the EI type and stressor used.

Stress Reactivity: The Role of TEI

Overall, evidence concerning the role of TEI in psychological or physiological reactivity was mixed. Depending on the context, TEI increased reactivity, decreased reactivity, or had no significant effects. TEI appeared especially useful in sport. High TEI buffered reactivity to both passive (e.g., crowd hissing) and active (e.g., competition) sports-based stressors, a finding that was applicable to both psychological (e.g., Lane et al., 2010 ) and physiological stress ( Laborde et al., 2014 ). The pertinence of TEI to sports-based stressors may reside in the structural basis of the construct. TEI can be conceptualized as “emotional self-efficacy”: one's self-confidence and belief in their emotional abilities ( Petrides et al., 2007 ). Self-efficacy is one of the most influential determinants of sport performance, ( Feltz et al., 2008 ), a phenomena that could be attributable to the many “rewards” available for performing well in sports contexts (e.g., winning a competition, beating a personal best, etc.). Incentives are deemed necessary for the “activation” of self-efficacy ( Bandura, 1977 ). One could speculate that, as a related construct, TEI could work similarly by actively dampening the stress response in situations where “doing well” greatly benefits the individual (e.g., a marathon). Similarly, high TEI buffered affective responses in other “at risk” naturalistic settings where the individual was at risk of pain or physical discomfort.

TEI was unrelated to physiological responding when completing cognitive tasks under controlled conditions. However, the intensity of affective responses was buffered by TEI in most cases. Perhaps, during times of cognitive challenge, TEI facilitates deployment of adaptive cognitive mechanisms to regulate emotional responses. There has been relatively little evidence in the context of state coping (i.e., coping during the stressor). However, the limited body of work suggests that TEI facilitates coping strategy selection under acute stress ( Salovey et al., 2002 ; Matthews et al., 2006 ; O'Connor et al., 2016 ). High TEI individuals typically select more adaptive, active methods of coping (e.g., problem-solving) over maladaptive, passive methods (e.g., avoidance coping; Austin et al., 2010 ). Furthermore, high TEI individuals appraise tasks as a challenge, rather than a threat ( Mikolajczak and Luminet, 2008 ). This cognitive appraisal pattern fosters adaptive levels of reactivity, and enhances task performance ( Maier et al., 2003 ). TEI is also associated with an attentional bias for positive emotions ( Szczygieł and Mikolajczak, 2017 ; Lea et al., 2018 ), which could be helpful during demanding situations. For example: during a written exam, a student with greater TEI may experience less negative affect, allowing them to invest more mental resources in answering the exam questions, thus potentially resulting in greater academic achievement than a student with low TEI. What is less clear, is why high TEI did not protect individuals from socially evaluative stressors. TEI only reduced cortisol and mood reactivity in one study ( Mikolajczak et al., 2009 , study 3). In other studies, TEI or its component subscales either had no effect, or increased reactivity. Notably, when students delivered a presentation as part of their coursework (i.e., in a naturalistic setting), TEI failed to produce any effects on mood or cortisol reactivity ( Wilbraham et al., 2018 ). Considering that enhanced emotional and social functioning should constitute a core hallmark of TEI ( Fiori, 2009 ), findings challenge the claim that TEI buffers stress in all social contexts.

Many studies showed that TEI intensified emotional reactivity to material designed to evoke negative emotion (e.g., Petrides and Furnham, 2003 , study 2). This could suggest that compared to their low TEI peers, high TEI individuals are more likely to notice their negative emotions and pay attention to them. Alternatively, rather than being the result of maladaptive psychological processing of the stressor, it could be that on those occasions, high TEI individuals believed they should be impacted negatively by negatively valenced material. They could have then over-reported this via subjective reports of mood change. Evidence exploring TEI and physiological reactions (free from demand bias) supports that hypothesis, since high TEI individuals did not necessarily show adaptive physiological responses to emotive material. However, the balance between TEI facets appeared important. For maximum benefit, individuals needed to score highly on their perceived ability to both perceive and regulate emotion.

Stress Reactivity: The Role of AEI

A dearth of AEI studies was apparent across all stressor types. However, based on the pool of evidence available within the review, findings were much less supportive of a role for AEI than TEI. AEI was either non-significant or detrimental in most cases. Notably, AEI was related to maladaptive physiological responses in intra-personal settings (e.g., Bechtoldt and Schneider, 2016 ). This contradicts suggestions that AEI should strongly predict adaptive criteria in such environments ( Matthews et al., 2017 ). AEI also failed to predict reactivity to cognitive tasks (e.g., Matthews et al., 2006 ), and when confronted with emotive stimuli, findings were conflicted. In general, explanatory pathways with regard to AEI are less straight-forward, and it is difficult to speculate how and why AEI might implicate (or not implicate) the stress response pathway. It has been suggested by Ciarrochi et al. (2002) that maladaptive effects of AEI could stem from one of two possible accounts, where emotion perception skill plays a key role. First, emotionally perceptive people might be hypersensitive to emotion, and therefore less likely to try and repress the mental and physical sensations associated with negative experiences. Second, highly perceptive individuals might be less confused about what they are feeling, and are thus more aware of the meaning of such sensations. Taken together, findings align with contemporary concerns that high levels of AEI may not always be optimal for adaptation ( Davis and Nichols, 2018 ).

The roles of both TEI and AEI in facilitating outcomes (i.e., stress reactivity) need to be understood ( Davis and Humphrey, 2012 ). However, the vast majority of studies in the review explored the effects of TEI only, and only three studies examined both TEI and AEI simultaneously. Zysberg (2012) identified different roles for TEI and AEI (TEI; buffers psychological reactivity; AEI buffers physiological reactivity). The other two studies only examined effects on psychological reactivity. While both identified no benefit for high AEI ( Fallon et al., 2014 ; Davis, 2018 ), TEI helped maintain positive mood in one case ( Fallon et al., 2014 ). Even when studies used the same stress induction paradigm (TSST), and measurement (cortisol secretion), divergent findings were identified for TEI (less reactive; Mikolajczak et al., 2009 ) and AEI (more reactive; Bechtoldt and Schneider, 2016 ). This suggests that TEI and AEI may operate differently in stressor-activated processes. However, more studies evaluating respective roles of both TEI and AEI in stressful situations are clearly needed. Considering TEI/AEI “profiles” (high TEI/low AEI, high AEI/low TEI etc.), could prove a fruitful approach for future studies to take. It could be that the effects of AEI on stress reactivity (which were often negative or non-significant in the present review) depend on the level of TEI. For example, having high levels of emotional skill (AEI) can be deleterious for psychological adaptation if the individual does not possess a sufficient level of emotional self-confidence (TEI) ( Davis and Humphrey, 2014 ).

Stress Recovery: The Roles of TEI and AEI

Recovery from acute stress is sometimes viewed an empirically neglected “conceptual sibling” of reactivity ( Linden et al., 1997 ). A capacity to recover quickly from stress generally affords long term health benefits, by preventing exaggerated or prolonged activation of the sympathetic and HPA axis response systems (e.g., Burke et al., 2005 ; Geurts and Sonnentag, 2006 ). Few studies examined the role of EI in the stress recovery process. However, both TEI and AEI generally conveyed advantages for a range of stressful experiences. The mechanisms linking TEI and AEI to enhanced recovery are unknown, but the wider literature provides nascent support for the role of two related cognitive processes: post-stressor rumination (dwelling on the negative experience of the stressor after its end), and post-stressor intrusive thoughts (involuntary, unwelcome thoughts or images about the stressful experience). Lanciano et al. (2010) found that individuals that scored highly on the emotion management branch of AEI ruminated less about their stressful experiences. Similarly, people with high TEI (clarity of emotions subscale) experienced less intrusive thoughts (e.g., “I thought about [the stressor] when I didn't mean to”) post-stressor ( Fernández-Berrocal and Extremera, 2006 ). Since rumination and intrusive thoughts can hinder the stress recovery process ( LeMoult et al., 2013 ), it could follow that TEI and/or AEI might inhibit the focus on one's distress after the immediate threat has passed. Perhaps, via increased attendance to positive emotions ( Szczygieł and Mikolajczak, 2017 ; Lea et al., 2018 ). More studies examining both TEI and AEI, using shared methodology, are required before conclusions about their roles with respect to acute stress recovery can be confidently drawn.

Measurement of TEI and AEI

A second aim of the review concerned the typical methodology (e.g., EI instrumentation) used when exploring the effects of EI on acute stress responding. A considerable problem in the field of EI is that there is no clear definition or “gold standard” measures. This has resulted in a plethora of measures, particularly for TEI, which differ in their theoretical assumptions and factor structures ( Zeidner and Matthews, 2018 ). For example, unlike other popular TEI measures such as the TEIQue, the TMMS does not yield a global score, and lacks many core facets of the TEI construct, such as sociability ( Pérez et al., 2005 ). Thus, synthesizing findings that relate to different TEI conceptualisations may not be valid. Eventually, with more studies, and replication of methods, a meta-analysis could determine strength of effects according to EI instrumentation and stressor type. Studies also differed in their analytic strategy. Heterogeneity of methodology means that at present, testing for a “common effect” in this way would not be possible. While half of the studies only performed analyses at the global level (i.e., total score), the rest followed a promising line of enquiry by performing sub-analyses with EI components, which helps to pinpoint effects at the sub-facet level. In those studies, significant effects were often restricted to certain subscales (e.g., clarity scale of the TMMS; Fernández-Berrocal and Extremera, 2006 ), supporting that strategy. In addition, subscale analysis would help address the extent to which certain EI subscales (e.g., the wellbeing scale of the TEIQue) confound with stress outcomes. What is problematic, however, is when studies only measured/reported select subscales from a broader measure (e.g., Papousek et al., 2008 , 2011 ), as this makes it more difficult to elucidate EI's role.

A large number of studies examined the relationship between TEI (i.e., self-reported EI) and psychological reactivity (i.e., self-reported stress). When both predictors and criterion measures are self-reported, there is the risk that findings may have arisen due to shared measurement error, rather than true associations (“contamination”; Keefer et al., 2018 ). Thus, the effects of TEI on health indices tend to be weaker when outcomes are measured objectively, as shown in the present review. In addition, self-report behavioral trait questionnaires assume individuals have sufficient insight into their own emotional functioning, and are thus susceptible to socially desirable responding ( Day and Carroll, 2008 ; Tett et al., 2012 ). It is therefore important to consider TEI findings alongside those for AEI, a more objective index of emotional skills and abilities. However, as discussed, few studies examined AEI. In those few studies, a narrow breadth were used, with the majority of studies using the MSCEIT. Commentators argue that implementation of alternative measurement tools is required to fully differentiate test effects from construct effects and avoid “mono-method bias” ( Matthews et al., 2007 ). In other words, researchers should use a range of AEI tools to demonstrate that effects are not merely a product of the way in which the MSCEIT measures emotional skills. Non-commercial alternatives have since been developed to address this need (e.g., STEM and STEU; MacCann and Roberts, 2008 ), though these are not often used, as reflected by present review (see Table 2 ).

Study Limitations

The quality appraisal process showed that of the 45 studies, most conferred a weak ( n = 18) or moderate ( n = 21) rating. A strong rating was only received by four studies (see Tables 3 – 6 ). The main issues—the dearth of evidence for physiological reactivity studies, stress induction robustness, and, lack of consideration for confounding influences—will now be discussed.

Only a third of studies assessed physiological stress. This is congruent with the findings relating to EI measurement: researchers in the review tended to select subjective measures (i.e., TEI) over objective measures (i.e., AEI). Assessment of physiology in reactivity experiments could prove particularly insightful, given that the physiological aspects of reactivity are strongly associated with adverse health outcomes (e.g., Lopez-Duran et al., 2015 ). Using physiological measures also reduces the risk of methodological “contamination” occurring from an overreliance on self-report (described above). Furthermore, we cannot assume that perceived stress adequately represents physiology, since the literature often indicates negligible associations ( Oldehinkel et al., 2011 ). Indeed, one meta-analysis concluded that significant correlations between perceived stress and physiological stress are only found in approximately 25% of cases ( Campbell and Ehlert, 2012 ). Of the few studies in the review that captured both types of stress measurement, effects were rarely consistent across both. The degree and strength of concordance can depend on many factors, such as age, gender, and body composition ( Föhr et al., 2015 ). For those reasons, multi-method approaches (i.e., using physiological methods alongside questionnaires) are preferred ( Andrews et al., 2013 ). Some also argue that to truly understand the full body response, both ANS (e.g., HR) and HPA-axis (e.g., cortisol) markers should be measured, since these systems are highly coordinated and interconnected ( Rotenberg and McGrath, 2016 ). Future work should continue to evaluate the respective roles of TEI and AEI in stressful situations using both psychological and physiological measurements.

Another key issue relates to the robustness of stress induction paradigms used. A broad range of stress induction procedures were identified in the review (see Figure 2 ). Only 10 studies (22%) included an explicit control group (i.e., high stress vs. low stress conditions). The remaining 34 studies had either no control group at all ( n = 25), used intrasubject control (e.g., consecutive conditions; n = 5), or had multiple conditions (e.g., happy mood; sad mood) without a neutral condition ( n = 5). Experimental control is a crucial component of the scientific method ( Bowling, 2009 ) that reduces the risk of bias arising from environmental influences. Moreover, two thirds of the studies did not control for any additional variables that might have confounded with EI to influence reactivity or recovery variables, such as personality, cognitive ability, or mental health. Considering TEI is widely acknowledged as a lower order personality trait ( Petrides et al., 2007 ), it is concerning that TEI studies do not routinely account for personality. Similarly, only two AEI studies controlled for cognitive ability, a closely linked construct to AEI ( Mayer et al., 2008 ). Acute stress responding can also be influenced by clinical symptomology. For example, individuals with depression ( Burke et al., 2005 ) or anxiety ( De Rooij et al., 2010 ), often show blunted stress reactivity, and impaired stress recovery, compared to controls. Levels of trait anxiety and depression were only accounted for in one study ( Mikolajczak et al., 2009 , study 2). It is difficult to clearly define the relationship between EI and stress responding when the effects of confounding influences are not controlled for. Although the incremental validity of EI in a wide range of criteria is promising ( Andrei et al., 2016 ; Miao et al., 2018 ), to further establish the contribution of EI toward outcomes, researchers should aim to include measurement of emotion-related constructs in EI studies. Differences in methodological robustness could help to explain conflicting findings identified in the review. For example, Mikolajczak et al. (2009 , study 3, which identified decreased reactivity) and Thomas et al. ( 2018 , which identified increased reactivity), used variants of the same stressful task (TSST), the same TEI measure (TEIQue), and stress measurement (cortisol secretion). However, unlike the latter study, the former employed a control group, and controlled for confounding variables.

Limitations of the Review

At the review level, publication bias emerged. Two unpublished theses of potential relevance could not be obtained despite attempts to contact the authors.

Conclusions and Future Directions

Over the last two decades, EI has been claimed to hold a pivotal role with regards to many intrapersonal and interpersonal adaptive life outcomes. A key hypothesis suggests that EI leads to those positive outcomes by acting as an acute stress buffer. The present systematic review provides a timely overview of the experimental literature concerning EI and acute stress reactivity and recovery, bringing together relevant work from a vast array of disciplines. The hypothesis was only partially supported by the results of the present review. Findings suggested that whether EI is useful under acute stress is highly dependent on the stress context, and how EI is measured. TEI was significantly associated with reduced stress reactivity in two contexts: sports-based stressors (e.g., a sports competition), and cognitive stressors (e.g., a memory task), but not others (psychosocial stress; emotive stimuli). Furthermore, relationships between EI and self-reported stress generally occurred more often than with physiological stress (a more reliable index of reactivity). It was also unclear whether AEI, a more objective index of emotional skill, was adaptive, since relatively few studies measured this construct, and some indicated a deleterious effect of AEI. However, while emotionally intelligent individuals may or may not react more strongly to a stressor, they do seem to recover more quickly from the ordeal, regardless of how EI or stress is measured.

The review also identified some core limitations, which researchers should attempt to address in future studies. First, research concerning EI and reactivity should strive for experimental rigor. While some high quality studies (e.g., Mikolajczak et al., 2009 , study 3) used effective stress manipulations (with appropriate controls), controlled for confounding constructs, and considered multiple indices of reactivity, these were scarce. Second, it would be beneficial for the field for more studies to examine the contribution of both actual emotional skills (AEI) in addition to trait emotional self-efficacy (TEI). Importantly, it is also not possible to generalize findings to other populations (e.g., adolescents), given that most study samples were restricted to University students. Considering the drive to train or improve EI in children and young people, a third recommendation would be for future studies to examine the relationship between EI and stress reactivity in those populations. Alternatively, a novel approach would be to utilize virtual reality technology, exploring the role of EI when responding to a wide range of naturalistic stimuli and scenarios, without the practical restraints of current laboratory-based research. Overall, the findings of the review call into question some central assumptions about the stress-buffering effect of EI, and suggest that EI may only be useful in certain circumstances.

Author Contributions

RL was the primary researcher of this study, responsible for collecting and analyzing the data, and writing the first draft of the paper. SD was responsible for analyzing data and editing the paper. BM and PQ were also responsible for editing the paper. All authors contributed to the conceptualization of the review.

The research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

1. ^ Database searching revealed another paper of interest ( Mikolajczak et al., 2007) . However, the data from that paper was also reported in Mikolajczak et al. (2009) Study 3. Thus, the latter paper was included in lieu.

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* ^ References marked with an asterisk indicate studies included in the systematic review.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, stress, reactivity, recovery, affect, physiology, mood

Citation: Lea RG, Davis SK, Mahoney B and Qualter P (2019) Does Emotional Intelligence Buffer the Effects of Acute Stress? A Systematic Review. Front. Psychol. 10:810. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00810

Received: 03 December 2018; Accepted: 26 March 2019; Published: 17 April 2019.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2019 Lea, Davis, Mahoney and Qualter. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Rosanna G. Lea, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

• DOI: 10.4102/SAJIP.V35I1.443
• Corpus ID: 56138603

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Numerous studies have shown that college students have a lot of bad emotions due to their special status. Bad emotions cause many conflicts in college students’ lives and studies, resulting in a decrease in the quality of life and studies. However, few studies have examined the influence of the ability of self-regulation of emotions on the ability of college students to deal with daily life events. To explore the specific effects of emotional intelligence of college students’ self-control and social interactions on self-efficacy in terms of their ability to cope with stress, we explored the link between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy and the mediating role of coping styles on both. In this study, we recruited 800 Chinese university students for a questionnaire survey using a random sampling method. We only obtained a valid sample of 717 ( M  = 18.88, SD  = 1.61). Each participant completed a series of questionnaires, including the Sentiment Scale, Self-Efficacy Scale, and Coping Style Scale. Afterwards, data analysis was conducted using SPSS 20.0 and AMOS 22.0 to develop structural equation models. The results showed that emotional intelligence not only directly affects self-efficacy, but also indirectly affects self-efficacy through coping styles. The results of the study indicate that college students who assess their self-efficacy based on their emotional state and who are able to manage their emotions will experience more positive feelings psychologically and behaviorally, and thus achieve higher self-efficacy in activities such as classes, internships, and employment interactions.

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1 Introduction

Is an individual’s behavior in coping with different situations related to the amount of skills the individual possesses, or is it related to what the individual believes he or she can do in different situations? Self-efficacy is closely related to this question. Self-efficacy refers to an individual’s ability to deal with various life events, including the ability to cope with learning problems. The concept of “self-efficacy” was first introduced by the American psychologist Bandura [ 1 ], and since then, the theory and practice of “self-efficacy” has been gradually explored and explained by scholars. Self-efficacy influences people’s behavioral choices: coping style refers to the process of cognitive and behavioral adaptation and efforts to mitigate the adverse effects of an event when an individual is under stress [ 2 ]. The relationship between self-efficacy and coping styles is complex: research has shown zero [ 3 ], positive [ 4 ], and negative [ 5 ] correlations: but self-efficacy influences the way individuals deal with problems by affecting their behavioral choices, cognitive thought patterns, motivation levels, and affective experiences; and the way individuals prefer to deal with problems in turn influences their beliefs about how to deal with them. Students are encouraged to recognize their emotional characteristics, to make efforts to improve their abilities, to increase the level of self-efficacy, to explore their unlimited potential, to know themselves, to actively explore, and to correctly decide their future direction in constant adjustment. In this paper, we study how two factors, emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, affect college students in the face of various social environments today and what variables are at play in the middle of emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. Self-efficacy sense affects the way individuals make specific attributions, with high self-efficacy Individuals with high self-efficacy are more likely to look for causes in themselves, while individuals with low self-efficacy individuals attribute problems to their own inability to solve Individuals with low self-efficacy attribute problems to their own inability to solve them [ 6 ]; increasing the level of career decision-making self-efficacy improves learning ability by enhancing students’ motivation to collect information and set goals, and improving decision-making self-efficacy [ 7 ]; individuals with higher self-efficacy have better academic performance, lower negative emotions, and better mental health [ 8 , 9 , 10 ]; self-efficacy is not only related to individual behavior and work skills, but also to the ability to use the skills acquired to perform the appropriate behavior and work.

Students are in an important period of rapid development, and the level of their self-efficacy will affect their schooling and development. However, from the current situation of education, many colleges and universities do not pay much attention to this aspect of education and focus too much on training students’ knowledge and ability, which makes many students’ self-efficacy awareness low, unwilling to communicate with others, unable to actively participate in teaching and collective school activities, lacking youthful vitality and hindering their physical and mental health development. Therefore, it is very necessary and practical to strengthen the cultivation ways of self-efficacy consciousness of college students in college education [ 11 ]. Self-efficacy influences a person’s emotional response patterns, and emotional response patterns are an expression of emotional intelligence, so self-efficacy is in turn closely related to emotional intelligence (emotional intelligence). Emotional intelligence is a human ability to identify and regulate one’s own emotions and those of others, and to use the emotional information obtained to adjust one’s own thinking and behavior or that of others [ 12 ]. It is a psychological variable that affects the individual’s ability to cope with environmental needs and stress [ 13 , 14 ]. Emotional intelligence, as the ability to perceive and interpret interpersonal information in a social context, enables the ability to process and process emotions effectively: higher emotion management skills can significantly improve marital quality [ 15 ], and job satisfaction [ 16 ], and individuals with higher emotional intelligence are able to process and process positive or negative emotions appropriately [ 17 ] and experience more positive emotions [ 18 ]. People who with high emotional intelligence tend to be more sensitive to the feelings and emotions of others and to the thoughts of others, so individuals can maximize their own goals by constantly adjusting their emotion regulation strategies in different situations [ 19 , 20 ]: emotional intelligence is considered to be an important ability that enables self-regulation of emotions and generates positive emotions at work; an individual’s level of emotional intelligence can alleviate his or her own work stress [ 21 ]. The self-emotion-related dimensions of employee emotional intelligence have a positive effect on job performance and job effectiveness [ 22 ]. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to the development of emotional intelligence of college students.

College students are at a critical period of their lives and gradually entering society, but there are still many psychological problems with a large number of bad emotions, such as anxiety, irritability, depression, impulsiveness, etc., and students lack the ability to self-regulate. Emotion regulation and self-efficacy have important effects on survival, employment, learning, interpersonal communication, physical and mental health, and are important psychological skills that individuals need to adapt to society. From the foregoing, it is clear that relevant studies on college students’ emotional intelligence and self-efficacy and their corresponding styles have achieved certain results, but there are still shortcomings in the depth, breadth and mediating mechanisms of the studies, for example, studies that separately examine the relationship between college students’ emotional intelligence, coping styles and self-efficacy have not been seen and need to be further explored. The purpose of this study is to understand the correlation between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among college students through a questionnaire survey, the effect of coping style on self-efficacy, and whether coping style is a mediating variable between the two. It is hoped that this study will expand the original theories and enrich the related research, and provide some guidance for the social adaptation and mental health of college students, and make corresponding suggestions on how to improve the emotional intelligence of college students to improve their self-efficacy.

2 Research methodology

2.1 participants.

Considering the privacy of the content of this study, an anonymous questionnaire was adopted to conduct the study so that the students could participate more actively in it. In this study, we recruited 800 Chinese university students for a questionnaire survey using a stratified random sampling method. A total of 717 valid questionnaires were collected after the invalid samples were removed, and the effective rate of the questionnaire reached 89.6%. Among them, 252 were male students and 465 were female students with an average age of 18.88 ± 1.61 years.

2.2 Measures

This study used the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS) [ 23 , 25 ], the Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) [ 24 ] and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire (SCSQ).

Emotional Intelligence Scale: the scale consists of 33 items, and the answers were obtained according to a five-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) to measure an individual’s perceptions of the extent to which s/he can identify, understand, harness, and regulate emotions in self and others. The scale is divided into four dimensions: emotion perception, self-emotion management, emotion management of others, and emotion expression. Its validity coefficient is 0.83. Self-Efficacy Scale: the scale consists of 10 items rated on a 4-point scale from not at all correct to completely correct on a scale of 1–4, with higher scores indicating higher general self-efficacy. The reliability test of the Chinese version of the GSES showed that its internal consistency coefficient was 0.87. Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire: the questionnaire consists of 20 entries divided into two dimensions: positive coping style and negative coping style. A 4-point scale was used, and the results of the questionnaire were the average scores of the positive coping and negative coping dimensions. The internal consistency coefficient of the questionnaire was 0.83, and the reliability coefficients of positive coping and negative coping were 0.85 and 0.80.

2.3 Procedure

The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Graduate University of Mongolia. Participants from undergraduates and junior college students, majoring Philosophy, Economics, Law, Education, Literature, etc. (ten professional fields). 40 undergraduates and 40 junior college students per major, 800 students in all. Eight hundred college students were randomly selected as subjects at a university in China, and after the purpose of the study was carefully explained to them, the study participants agreed to participate in the study and pledged their confidentiality and anonymity during and after the study. The survey was answered using a paper questionnaire, which was given to the subjects and collected after 20 min with a small gift as a thank you for completing the questionnaire.

2.4 Data analysis

The software SPSS 20.0 was used to process and analyze the 717 valid data. Firstly, we performed a descriptive statistical analysis, secondly, correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence, self-efficacy and coping styles; Thirdly, the mediating role of coping styles between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy was examined using bootstrap approach; finally, structural equation modeling was used to further analyze the mediating role of coping styles.

3 Results and analysis

3.1 correlation analysis of emotional intelligence, coping style and self-efficacy.

Table 1 shows that in this study, the positive significant correlation between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy with a correlation coefficient of 0.550, p  < 0.01; the positive significant correlation between emotional intelligence and coping style with a correlation coefficient of 0.381, p  < 0.01; and the positive significant correlation between coping style and self-efficacy with a correlation coefficient of 0.321, p  < 0.01.The present study further explored the mediating role of coping style between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy.

3.2 Mediating effect test

In this study, the bootstrap method was used to test the mediating role of corresponding modalities between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. In the first step, first, whether a * b is significant, significant indicates the existence of a mediating role; in the second step, whether c′ is significant, significant indicates the possible omission of other mediators, insignificant indicates c′ is the only mediator; in the third step, if c′ is significant, then determine whether the direction of a * b * c′ is positive or negative, positive indicates a complementary mediator and negative indicates a competing mediator. The results are shown as follows.

From Table 2 , it can be seen that the mediating effect of coping style between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy is significant, the interval ( LLCI  = 0.0274, ULCI  = 0.0945) does not contain 0, and the mediating effect size a * b is 0.0569. and then examine whether c′ is significant, the results are as follows.

From Table 3 , it can be seen that the coefficient of influence of emotional intelligence on self-efficacy is 0.567, t  = 14.8868, p  = 0.000 < 0.05 and the interval ( LLCI  = 0.4922, ULCI  = 0.6417) does not contain 0, which indicates that c′ is significant. Further, judging the direction of a   *   b   *   c ′ revealed that a   *   b   *   c ′ > 0, which indicates that other mediating variables may have been missed and that emotional intelligence is a complementary mediator with other mediating variables.

3.3 Structural equation model validation

To further explore the mechanism of the role of coping styles in the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy, this paper used structural equation modeling to further analyze the mediating role of coping styles. The model was constructed accordingly.

From the fit indices of the hypothetical model listed in Table 4 , it can be seen that the fit indices CFI , NFI , and IFI in the model all met the standard requirements or above. It indicates that the model fits the data well (see Fig.  1 ).

Research framework

From this structural equation model, it can be found that emotional intelligence significantly affects self-efficacy and can indirectly affect self-efficacy through the mediating variable of coping style.

4 Discussion and conclusions

This study explored the role of emotional intelligence on college students’ self-efficacy through an empirical approach. Four conclusions were drawn from this study: emotional intelligence was significantly related to self-efficacy; emotional intelligence was significantly related to coping styles; coping styles was significantly related to self-efficacy; and coping styles partially mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy.

4.1 Emotional intelligence was significantly related to self-efficacy

Emotional intelligence was positively correlated with self-efficacy in this study. This is consistent with existing studies [ 19 , 20 ]. It indicates that effective identification of one’s own emotions can increase college students’ beliefs about their ability to achieve desired outcomes when confronted. As seen in the structural equation model, emotional intelligence significantly affects self-efficacy. Emotional intelligence directly affects self-efficacy in college students, and the mediating effect of this pathway accounts for a large proportion of the total effect, which can indicate that the item emotional intelligence is an important mediating variable in influencing the results, and in the case of student learning, we can say that students’ positive attitude toward learning is significantly and positively related to emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence significantly and positively predicted self-efficacy, and students’ generation of positive emotions could be mediated by emotional intelligence and self-efficacy. This is consistent with previous research findings that emotional intelligence is beneficial to students’ self-efficacy, suggesting that it can positively influence self-efficacy not only through the positive emotions of emotional intelligence and but also through emotional intelligence that affects the development of self-efficacy and then acts on college students’ slackness in learning. Emotional intelligence can positively predict individual self-efficacy, probably because individuals with higher emotional intelligence can effectively analyze the decision environment, build personal confidence, and use reasonable emotional expressions to influence others in order to effectively solve problems and make the right decisions, thus increasing self-efficacy.

4.2 Emotional intelligence was significantly related to coping styles

Emotional intelligence was positively correlated with coping styles in this study. This indicates that effective identification of one’s own emotions is the basis for college students to adopt more positive. This result is similar to the findings of pre-study [ 13 , 14 , 26 , 27 ]. The level of emotional intelligence of the population surveyed in this study is at an intermediate level, and the identification, effective regulation and application of one’s emotions through positive interventions will promote the courage and ability of college students to face hardships and setbacks positively. In summary, the level of emotional intelligence has an important influence on the choice of coping styles. In the teaching work, through psychological counseling, positive stress reduction and other interventions to improve college students in the face of frustration and difficulties in the process of life and governance learning often better control, adjust and use their own various emotions.

4.3 Coping styles was significantly related to self-efficacy

The relationship between coping styles and self-efficacy has been a hot topic of research. However, a large number of studies have shown some variability in the findings of the relationship between self-efficacy and coping styles in Chinese samples. For example, in studies with college students as subjects, some studies found no significant correlation between self-efficacy and negative coping [ 3 ], while some studies showed a negative correlation between self-efficacy and negative coping [ 5 ]. In a study with primary caregivers of cancer patients as subjects, self-efficacy was found to be significantly related to negative coping styles significantly positively correlated [ 4 , 28 ]. It can be seen that research on coping styles is complex, and the ways of coping with problems vary from person to person; not only the research dimensions have not been unified so far, but also the relationship between the sense of self-efficacy and different coping styles is inconsistent, and the different findings obtained may be related to the professional and occupational factors of the research subjects.

4.4 Coping styles partially mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy

This study examined the mechanism of action of emotional intelligence in college students to influence self-efficacy and verified the mediating effect of coping style between the two. The results showed that emotional intelligence not only has a direct effect on self-efficacy, but also has an indirect effect on it through coping styles. According to self-efficacy theory, individuals will assess their self-efficacy based on their emotional state. If they can manage their emotions, they will experience more positive feelings psychologically and behaviorally, and in turn will choose to cope in a positive way, ultimately achieving higher self-efficacy in activities such as classes, internships, and employment interactions. The above analysis demonstrates the synergistic effect of both emotional intelligence and coping styles.

4.5 Conclusion

Although the hypotheses proposed in this study were tested, there are still shortcomings: the methodological approach of this study, mainly using questionnaire method, is rather single. Different methods could be used in the future, such as empirical method, multivariate analysis to obtain survey data, longitudinal tracking type of research paradigm, etc.; there are numerous factors affecting self-efficacy, and this study to selected two factors, emotional intelligence and coping style, which were not controlled for other complex influencing factors due to the limitations of the research conditions, therefore, it may have some influence on the research result; this study examined the mediating effect of coping style as a whole, however, it is a multidimensional construct that contains both active coping and school-level coping. Therefore, future research could provide insight into its mediating effects in different dimensions. In addition, the study found that coping style partially mediated the effect of emotional intelligence on self-efficacy, which suggests that there may be other mediating variables between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy; therefore, for the sake of the study, other potential mediating variables can be explored in depth so that the underlying mechanism of action connecting the relationship between the two can be revealed in its entirety.

The three factors of emotional intelligence, coping style and self-efficacy have important effects on college students in the face of various social environments nowadays. In teaching, we need to adjust students’ emotional state and create a good learning environment to improve students’ self-efficacy. We can also use self-efficacy theory can help students get rid of helplessness and anxiety, so that they can maintain a positive and optimistic attitude when facing learning and improve their interest in learning.

Data availability

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.

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Sun, G., Lyu, B. Relationship between emotional intelligence and self-efficacy among college students: the mediating role of coping styles. Discov Psychol 2 , 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s44202-022-00055-1

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A new strategy to cope with emotional stress

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Some people, especially those in public service, perform admirable feats: Think of health-care workers fighting to keep patients alive or first responders arriving at the scene of a car crash. But the emotional weight can become a mental burden. Research has shown that emergency personnel are at elevated risk for mental health challenges like post-traumatic stress disorder. How can people undergo such stressful experiences and also maintain their well-being?

A new study from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT revealed that a cognitive strategy focused on social good may be effective in helping people cope with distressing events. The research team found that the approach was comparable to another well-established emotion regulation strategy, unlocking a new tool for dealing with highly adverse situations.

“How you think can improve how you feel,” says  John Gabrieli , the Grover Hermann Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and a professor of brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, who is a senior author of the paper. “This research suggests that the social good approach might be particularly useful in improving well-being for those constantly exposed to emotionally taxing events.”

The study, published today in PLOS ONE , is the first to examine the efficacy of this cognitive strategy. Nancy Tsai, a postdoc in  Gabrieli’s lab at the McGovern Institute, is the lead author of the paper.

Emotion regulation tools

Emotion regulation is the ability to mentally reframe how we experience emotions — a skill critical to maintaining good mental health. Doing so can make one feel better when dealing with adverse events, and emotion regulation has been shown to boost emotional, social, cognitive, and physiological outcomes across the lifespan.

One emotion regulation strategy is “distancing,” where a person copes with a negative event by imagining it as happening far away, a long time ago, or from a third-person perspective. Distancing has been well-documented as a useful cognitive tool, but it may be less effective in certain situations, especially ones that are socially charged — like a firefighter rescuing a family from a burning home. Rather than distancing themselves, a person may instead be forced to engage directly with the situation.

“In these cases, the ‘social good’ approach may be a powerful alternative,” says Tsai. “When a person uses the social good method, they view a negative situation as an opportunity to help others or prevent further harm.” For example, a firefighter experiencing emotional distress might focus on the fact that their work enables them to save lives. The idea had yet to be backed by scientific investigation, so Tsai and her team, alongside Gabrieli, saw an opportunity to rigorously probe this strategy.

A novel study

The MIT researchers recruited a cohort of adults and had them complete a questionnaire to gather information including demographics, personality traits, and current well-being, as well as how they regulated their emotions and dealt with stress. The cohort was randomly split into two groups: a distancing group and a social good group. In the online study, each group was shown a series of images that were either neutral (such as fruit) or contained highly aversive content (such as bodily injury). Participants were fully informed of the kinds of images they might see and could opt out of the study at any time.

Each group was asked to use their assigned cognitive strategy to respond to half of the negative images. For example, while looking at a distressing image, a person in the distancing group could have imagined that it was a screenshot from a movie. Conversely, a subject in the social good group might have responded to the image by envisioning that they were a first responder saving people from harm. For the other half of the negative images, participants were asked to only look at them and pay close attention to their emotions. The researchers asked the participants how they felt after each image was shown.

Social good as a potent strategy

The MIT team found that distancing and social good approaches helped diminish negative emotions. Participants reported feeling better when they used these strategies after viewing adverse content compared to when they did not, and stated that both strategies were easy to implement.

The results also revealed that, overall, distancing yielded a stronger effect. Importantly, however, Tsai and Gabrieli believe that this study offers compelling evidence for social good as a powerful method better-suited to situations when people cannot distance themselves, like rescuing someone from a car crash, “Which is more probable for people in the real world,” notes Tsai. Moreover, the team discovered that people who most successfully used the social good approach were more likely to view stress as enhancing rather than debilitating. Tsai says this link may point to psychological mechanisms that underlie both emotion regulation and how people respond to stress.

Additionally, the results showed that older adults used the cognitive strategies more effectively than younger adults. The team suspects that this is probably because, as prior research has shown, older adults are more adept at regulating their emotions, likely due to having greater life experiences. The authors note that successful emotion regulation also requires cognitive flexibility, or having a malleable mindset to adapt well to different situations.

“This is not to say that people, such as physicians, should reframe their emotions to the point where they fully detach themselves from negative situations,” says Gabrieli. “But our study shows that the social good approach may be a potent strategy to combat the immense emotional demands of certain professions.”

The MIT team says that future studies are needed to further validate this work, and that such research is promising in that it can uncover new cognitive tools to equip individuals to take care of themselves as they bravely assume the challenge of taking care of others.

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The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has attracted a huge amount of interest from both academics and practitioners and has become linked to a whole range of outcomes, including career success, life satisfaction and health. Yet the concept itself and the way in which it is measured continue to fuel considerable debate. This paper takes a critical review of the methodologies and robustness of the validation and application studies that have used EI measures. In addition, the links between EI and other related theoretical perspectives such as emotional labour are considered.

Cristel Vosloo

Adrian Furnham

This article investigated the relationships between trait emotional intelligence (''trait EI''or ''emotional self-efficacy'') and 4 job-related variables (perceived job control, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment). Gender-specific data (N 5 167, 87 females) were analyzed via multigroup structural equation modeling. Perceived job control had a negative effect on stress and a positive effect on satisfaction. Stress had a negative effect on satisfaction, which, in turn, had the strongest positive effect on commitment.

Elfania Tanjung

Viloshni Ramchander

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3 Exercises to Boost Your Emotional Intelligence, According to Research

• Emma Seppälä

Small actions can have a big impact on self-awareness, self-regulation, and positive connections.

Everyone struggles to manage their emotions at times. It’s normal to have negative feelings and we can’t expect ourselves – or others – to leave those behind just because we’re at work. But those negative emotions can be detrimental to our relationships, performance, focus, and overall well-being. So it’s worthwhile to hone our emotional intelligence skills that help us handle negative feelings. The author shares three simple approaches to enhance three specific aspects of emotional intelligence: self-awareness, self-regulation, and positive connections. These exercises include: assessment of bodily sensations, cognitive load, and emotional states; strategic breathing exercises; and authentic, intentional acts of kindness and understanding.

Have you ever reacted to a situation at work in a way you weren’t proud of? Or sent an email when you were upset that you later regretted? No matter how successful or accomplished we may be, we all struggle with managing our emotions at times — and suffer the consequences afterward.

• Emma Seppälä , PhD, is a faculty member at the Yale School of Management, faculty director of the Yale School of Management’s Women’s Leadership Program and bestselling author of SOVEREIGN (2024) and The Happiness Track (2017). She is also science director of Stanford University’s Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education . Follow her work at emmaseppala.com , http://www.iamsov.com or on Instagram . emmaseppala

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• J Adv Med Educ Prof
• v.2(1); 2014 Jan

The relationship between emotional intelligence and job stress in the faculty of medicine in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences

Nikoo yamani.

1 Medical Education Research Center, Medical Education Department, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran;

MARYAM SHAHABI

2 Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

FARIBA HAGHANI

Introduction : health care professionals especially clinicians, undergo lots of job stress (JS). Emotional intelligence (EI) is among the variables that appear to be associated with stress. It is also included among the ways adopted by the individuals in order to resist JS in the workplace. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relationship between EI and JS in the faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (IUMS).

Methods : This was a correlational study performed on 202 faculty members of IUMS. The data was gathered through two valid and reliable questionnaires (Bradberry EI questionnaire and JS questionnaire), being analyzed by SPSS software using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and linear regression analysis (α=0.05).

Results : 142 individuals (70.30%) filled out the questionnaires. 75% of the respondents were male and 98% were married. There was an inverse correlation between the total score of EI and the level of JS (r=-0.235, p=0.005). Moreover, among the factors of EI, self-awareness and self-management scores had significant inverse relationship with the level of JS. Linear regression analysis showed that the EI factors explained approximately 7% of the variance of JS levels of the teachers.

Conclusions : Individuals with high EI have less JS. Since the EI can be taught, it can be expected that the JS of faculty members can be reduced through training them on emotional intelligence. Therefore, it is recommended that short-term training courses be scheduled and designed based on the concepts of EI for teachers, particularly clinicians.

Introduction

Working is the essence of every human being and most part of everyday lives of human being is spent on working. Working and its various aspects and effects on lives of the human beings have been investigated by many researchers. Regardless of the income, working meets a number of basic human needs such as mental and physical exercise, social bonding, self-esteem, self-confidence and feelings of competence or qualification.

However, it may also be a major source of stress or psychological pressure ( 1 ). In psychology, stress is defined as being under psychological pressure. Stress is the physical, mental and chemical response of the human being body to the events, causing feelings of fear, excitement, anxiety, danger or anger in the individual ( 2 ).

Job stress is a pervasive problem, which affects all professional and occupational groups of the individuals in society. It causes a lot of mental and physical illness. Furthermore, it is costly to organizations and companies due to reduced performance of the employees, increased absence from work, medical costs and disability of the workers and funding for new recruitment ( 3 ).

Health workers undergo lots of job stress, especially doctors and nurses because their jobs are critical ( 4 ). For example, Ayatollahi et al. in a study titled "Evaluation of occupational hazards affecting the health of the employees in a training-health care hospital " concluded that job stress is the most common occupational problem of the physicians (with an incidence of 75%) and nurses (with a prevalence of 67%) ( 5 ). Ghulam Nejad and Nik Peyma in a study found out that the major occupational stressors for nurses include lack of receiving reward and encourage, high workload, lack of key decision makings, lack of control over working conditions, lack of career promotion ( 6 ).

Given that, faculty members of the medical schools have other key roles in addition to providing health services; therefore, even the most non-faculty physicians and nurses are exposed to occupational stressors. In the Regulations of Department of Health, titled "Overview and how to determine the duties of faculty members of the universities and medical schools and affiliated institutions of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education", the duties of the faculty members are divided into seven areas as follows: 1. Education, 2. Research and Development, 3. Personal development, 4. Administrative and management activities, 5. Providing Health care services and health promotion, 6. Specialized activities outside the university (such as participation in community and professional groups, providing scientific and technical advisory services to the community, participating in meetings) and 7. Cultural affairs. Emotional intelligence is among the variables that appear to be associated with stress.

It is also included among the ways adopted by the individuals in order to resist the job stress in the workplace. For example, Noorian et al. in a study titled "The Effect of teaching emotional intelligence components to the doctors and nurses working in intensive care on their level of stress and anxiety” concluded that nurses and physicians experience a lot of stress and anxiety. Then, teaching the emotional intelligence components and the information relevant to emotional intelligence to the workers can be effective in coping with the stress or occupational anxiety ( 7 ).

In another study, the effect of teaching emotional intelligence skills was examined on how to deal with stress in adolescents. The results of this study showed that teaching emotional intelligence skills significantly reduced psychological stress in the adolescents ( 8 ). These studies showed that emotional intelligence should be considered in predicting job stress and other stresses as well.

Emotional intelligence is a relatively new concept employed in the management since 1990s. Emotional intelligence is a set of abilities that enable individuals to organize and manage the emotions of themselves and others. This intelligence includes understanding our own feelings and using them for taking appropriate decisions in personal and business aspects of our lives. It also determines the appropriate type of relationship that is appropriate for a profession or occupation ( 9 ). The term emotional intelligence was first introduced by psychologist John Mayer and Peter Salovi in the 1990s. They stated that the individuals who have emotional intelligence could control the emotions of themselves and others, distinguish between the positive and negative effects of the emotions and use emotional information to guide their own thought processes and personal actions. Daniel Golman, the behavioral science expert and author of "Working with Emotional Intelligence", was the first individual who introduced this concept in the organizations. Golman stated that emotional intelligence is the talent, skill, or ability, which deeply affects all individual abilities ( 10 ).

Two major models of emotional intelligence include Mayer and Salovey model and emotional-social model of Bar-On R. Mayer Salovey model has four dimensions or components including a) understanding our emotions and others’ emotions (Identifying Emotion), b) applying emotions (Using Emotion), c) the ability to perceive others' emotions (Understanding Emotion), and d) emotional Management (Managing Emotion) ( 11 , 12 ). The emotional intelligence model of Bar-On R. has five components in which 15 factors are effective. The people who find higher number of these components in themselves have higher emotional intelligence than others. These factors and components include intrapersonal skills (emotional self-awareness, courage, self-esteem, self-actualization and independence), interpersonal skills (interpersonal relationships, social commitment and empathy), compatibility (problem solving, reality testing and flexibility), stress management (stress tolerance and impulse control ability) and general mood (happiness and optimism) ( 13 ).

Dehshiri in a study showed that emotional intelligence and time management significantly predict the level of job stress in the teachers. Moreover, he found out that among the emotional intelligence components, self-control, empathy and self-awareness could significantly predict the occupational stress ( 14 ). Heydari Tafresh and Delfan Azari by conducting a research showed that emotional intelligence had a significant relationship with stress coping skills ( 15 ). The study conducted by Rahim Davari showed that emotional intelligence, using problem-focused coping skills, had a significant relationship with stress ( 16 ).

Ramesar et al. in their study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and stress management in the managers. They showed that there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress management. Moreover, according to the results of correlation and regression in the latter study, the researchers found out that stress management (the ability to resist stress or coping skills) could be considered as components of emotional intelligence ( 17 ).

Wons and Bargiel-Matusiewicz in a study titled "The relationship between emotional intelligence and stress coping in medical students" demonstrated that there was a direct relationship between increased level of emotional intelligence and the ability to cope with stressors and problems. They also noted that the individuals with high emotional intelligence had higher flexibility in dealing with the stressors ( 18 ). Finally, Arora, et al. conducted a study to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and stress in medical students who encountered unfamiliar surgical procedures. They found out a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and stress among these students. They concluded that the students with high emotional intelligence were more willing to experience stress in unfamiliar surgical scenarios. However, compared to students with low emotional intelligence, these students had better performance as well. Finally, the researchers stated that the concept of emotional intelligence could be used to design effective stress management courses and the selection procedure of surgical residents ( 19 ).

Almost all studies showed a significant relationship between the emotional intelligence and job stress. In other words, if an individual’s emotional intelligence increases, his ability to cope with stress increases as well. In other words, those who have higher emotional intelligence experience less stress. A review of the relationship between these two variables among the faculty members of the medical school was not found. Since the relationship between these two variables can be beneficial in the educational planning and empowerment of the faculty members and even their selection procedure, the relationship between emotional intelligence and job stress in this group of individuals was studied in this study.

This is a correlation study. It is also a cross-sectional study considering the time-interval of the study. The population consisted of all faculty members working in 2012 academic year in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (385 individuals). Using stratified random sampling method (based on the training group), 202 individuals were selected from the faculty members. Two standard questionnaires were used to collect data. The first one was Bradbery and Grios Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire containing 28 items that measure the four components of emotional intelligence, i.e. self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The questions are scored in six scales including never, rarely, sometimes, often, normally, almost always or always. The score within the range of 100 to 140 shows an excellent capability; the score within 90 to 99 shows a good ability; the score within 80 to 89 may be interpreted a capability with a little reinforcement; the score within 60 to 70 should be worked on and the score within 0 to 59 is a warning to which more attention should be given. Ganji reported that this questionnaire has desirable reliability and validity ( 20 ). The second was Job Stress Questionnaire with 30 questions. This instrument was constructed by Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh Rad (2011). It measures the level of job stress of the workers in five stress dimensions including task-related stress, role-related stress, workplace-related stress, stress related to policy measures, and stress related to interpersonal relationships. The questions are scored in six scales including never, very low, low, medium, high and very high. In order to obtain a total score of job stress, the total number of responses should be divided by 30. In order to obtain the score related to one dimension of occupational stress of the workers, the total scores of stress dimensions should be divided by the number of questions of that dimension. Thus, the average score vary between one and five. Mossadegh Rad, et al. (2011) examined the validity of the questionnaire and reported the value as (82%) ( 21 ).

All the individuals who were the Faculty members of Medical Sciences in 2012-2013 academic years were eligible for this study. Those individuals with incomplete questionnaires or unrealistic demographic information were excluded from the study. All subjects volunteered to participate in this project and there was no compulsion on the participants to fill out the questionnaires. All participants were assured that their information would remain confidential. For data analysis, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, t-test, ANOVA and linear regression analysis were used. The software used to analyze the data was SPSS 14 (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA) (α=0.05).

Out of the 202 individuals in the sample, 142 (70.30%) filled out the questionnaires. One of them was excluded from the analysis due to unrealistic demographic data. Among the respondents, 24.8% of them were female and 75.2% of them were male. The average age of the faculty members was 46.92±7.81. The age range of the faculty members varied from 30 years old to 64 years old. Academic ranks of the respondents were distributed as follows: 4% of the respondents were instructors, 52% were assistant professors, 35% were associate professor and 9% were full professors.

The employment status of the faculty members was also as follows official - definitive (64%) and contract (20%), project (8.5%), the official test (6.4%) and tuition fee (1%). Average experience of faculty members was 15.33±8.20 years. Among these members, 17.6% were employed in eight Department of Medicine while 82.4% were employed in 21 clinical departments.

The descriptive indices of the variables examined in this study can be found in Table 1 .

Mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum scores of the subjects in the research variables

As Table 1 shows among the components of emotional intelligence, self-management has the highest score (28.32) while the social awareness has the lowest score (16.15).  Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that there is an inverse significant relationship between the total score of emotional intelligence and the level of stress. In other words, if the score of emotional intelligence increases, job stress will decrease. Moreover, there was an inverse significant relationship between the component of emotional intelligence, self-awareness and self-management scores and the stress. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between the components of social awareness and relationship management and job stress (despite being negative). The results are shown in Table 2 .

Pearson correlation coefficients between the scores of occupational stress and emotional intelligence and its components in the faculty members

As it can be seen in Table 2 , the self-management component can better explain the changes in occupational stress than other emotional intelligence components.

Independent t-test showed that the mean scores of job stress and emotional intelligence have no significant differences, regarding sex and marital status (p>0.05). Moreover, the analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the mean score of job stress and emotional intelligence in faculty members had no significant difference with various employment status of the faculty members (p>0.05). Independent t-test showed that the mean score of job stress among clinical faculty members was significantly higher than the mean score of job stress among faculty members of applied science (p<0.001). However, the mean score of emotional intelligence and its components among clinical faculty members and applied science faculty members showed no significant difference (p>0.05). Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that the mean stress level among the faculty members who were full professors was significantly lower than the mean stress level among the faculty members with other academic ranks (p=0.02). Furthermore, analysis of variance showed that there was no significant relationship between scores of emotional intelligence and its components and academic ranks of the faculty members (p>0.05).

Multiple regression analysis was used for simultaneous entry of the variables to determine the effect of each of the components of emotional intelligence in prediction of the job stress. These components include self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The score of job stress of the faculty members as the criterion variable of the components of emotional intelligence was entered into the regression equation as predictive variables. The results are shown in Table 3 .

Effect of emotional intelligence components in predicting job stress using multiple regression analysis

Based on the above table, the observed F is significant (p<0.032). The emotional intelligence components approximately explain 7% of the variance of job stress factor of the faculty members. As it can be seen, the components of self-management and self-awareness are better able to predict stress-related changes.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and occupational stress among faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences. The results of Pearson correlation test showed that there was a significant inverse relationship between emotional intelligence and job stress. In other words, by increasing emotional intelligence, stress should be reduced and vice versa. Therefore, the individuals who have higher emotional intelligence have the ability to withstand stressful events and situations. The results of several other studies have also confirmed these findings, including Dehshir ( 14 ), Hafezi et al. ( 22 ), Maki Poor et al. ( 23 ), Barriball et al. ( 24 ) and Birkez et al. ( 25 ). In fact, all the studies investigated found a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and job stress. This is because if an individual understands his own feelings and knows them according to the concepts of emotional intelligence, then he/she can make better choices in his/her life regarding his/her job, friends, etc. Despite the fact that the relationship is significant in the overall structure of emotional intelligence and job stress, no significant relationship was found between the components or dimensions of emotional intelligence and job stress in several studies.

Components of emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. The components of self-awareness and self-management are related to personal capabilities of the individual while the components of social awareness and relationship management are associated with social capabilities of the individual. In this study, the relationship between self-awareness and self-management components, i.e. components relevant to personal capabilities of the individual, and job stress were significant. The results of this study are in line with the results of the study conducted by Maki Poor et al. ( 23 ). Because stress can occur when an individual is confronted with a specific event or situation that he finds challenging to his own abilities ( 26 ), thus stress is further related to the beliefs, attitudes and inner side of the individuals. Therefore, it is expected that self-awareness (the ability to understand emotions and our own strengths and weaknesses) and self-management (the ability to manage moods, stresses and our own internal capabilities) as two components of emotional intelligence ( 27 ) be better predictors for reducing stress. The result of multiple regression analysis also reflects this fact. According to this test, self-management and self-awareness are the best predictors respectively with 27% and 16% scores. These components can predict the changes related to stress level in faculty members. In Dehshir study, self-management alone was able to explain 57% of the changes in job stress factors. According to Goleman, the efficient individuals in this area (the individuals who can better manage and understand the stress) can avoid the negative emotions such as hopelessness, anxiety and irritability. These individuals face fewer difficulties in their lives or they can immediately return to favorable conditions when faced with problems and uncomfortable situations ( 14 ). These attitudes indicated that high self-control in the individuals with high emotional intelligence could protect them from the stress since it results in a situation that individuals may not encounter stressful events and if so, they can return to the ideal conditions as soon as possible.

As it was noted, the relationship between the components of social skills of the emotional intelligence, i.e. social awareness (the ability to understand individuals and groups), and relationship management (ability to create an optimal model in the others) and job stress was not significant. This finding is not in line with the results of the study conducted by Hafezi et al. ( 22 ). However, no better comparison can be made since different assessment tools of emotional intelligence such as Bar-On R., Schutte and Gelman Emotional Intelligence Questionnaires were used in various studies. Each of these tools has different dimensions of emotional intelligence. In the case of no significant relationship between the above two components and job stress, two reasons can be cited.

First, as noted above, it is more logical that there would be a relationship between the issue of work-related stress and personal empowerment component of emotional intelligence of the workers than other components. Then, lack of existence of a relationship between social capabilities of the emotional intelligence with job stress seems logical. The second reason could be due to the low power of the study; for example, the sample size is small in this research.

In this study, a significant relationship between demographic factors such as gender and marital status and emotional intelligence was not found. This finding was partly in line with the results of the study conducted by Kumar. These researchers in a study examined the relationship between demographic factors such as age, sex and educational level with emotional intelligence in polytechnic lecturers in Malaysia. They concluded that there was no significant relationship between emotional intelligence and gender and work experience; however, there was a significant relationship between emotional intelligence and age and educational level ( 28 ). In our study, a significant correlation was not found between marital status and emotional intelligence. A major reason for this difference could be due to the very low number of single individuals (n=3) in our study.

Another interesting result of this study was the fact that the mean score of job stress for the faculty members with instructor and full professor academic ranks was lower than that for associate and assistant professors. Perhaps one of the reasons can be due to greater work experience and job stability of the former group compared to the latter one.

Stressful events affect human being in terms of emotional, cognitive and physiological feelings. Therefore, the individual needs to be equipped with specific knowledge and skills that will help him deal with stress in the workplace. If the level of stress is beyond tolerance level of the individual, then it could endanger his health. Definitely controlling uncomfortable emotions is the key to emotional health and well-being of the individual in society. This study and other studies show that the people with higher emotional intelligence are more successful in coping with stress. According to Salovey et al, those with high emotional intelligence are more able to accurately understand and assess their emotional states and know how and when to express their feelings. They also can effectively regulate their mood states ( 29 ).

This study had several limitations that need to be addressed. First, the questionnaire used in this study was a self-assessment emotional intelligence questionnaire. The disadvantage of self-assessment tests is that the respondents can change their responses in order to represent a desired image of them. The second limitation of the study was the correlative study method, which imposed some limitations in the generalizability and interpretations of the results of the study.

The overall results of this study showed that the individuals with higher emotional intelligence had less job stress. Among the components of emotional intelligence, two components of self-awareness and self-management were better predictors of job stress. Since emotional intelligence can be taught and acquired, it can be expected to reduce the job stress of medical school faculty by teaching emotional intelligence to them. Therefore, it is recommended that short-term training courses be designed and scheduled based on the concepts of emotional intelligence for faculty members, specifically clinical instructors. Moreover, it is recommended that, in addition to academic qualifications, the personality and emotional characteristics be considered in the selection procedure of faculty members, as well.

Conflict of Interest: None declared.