Measuring emotional intelligence in adolescents

Can emotional intelligence (El) be reliably and validly measured in adolesc ents? One-hundred and thirty-one students (aged 13 to 15) completed a self- report measure of emotional intelligence (SEI) [Schutte, N., Malouff, J., H all, L., Haggerty, D., Cooper, J., Golden, C., & Dornheim, L. (1998). Devel opment and validation of a measure of emotional intelligence. Personality a nd Individual Differences, 25, 167-177.] and a number of other, theoretical ly relevant measures. They were then induced into either a positive, negati ve, or neutral mood and asked to complete a task that assessed mood managem ent behaviour. We found that EI was reliably measured in adolescents, was h igher for females than males, and was positively associated with skill at i dentifying emotional expressions, amount of social support, extent of satis faction with social support, and mood management behaviour. These relations hips held even after controlling for two constructs that potentially overla p with EI, namely self-esteem and trait anxiety. This study offers evidence that the SEI is a distinctive and useful measure. (C) 2001 Elsevier Scienc e Ltd. All rights reserved.