This thesis investigated the relative importance of six emotional intelligence (EI) abilities comprising the Swinburne University Emotional Intelligence Test (SUEIT) in the prediction of (1) psychological resilience to negative life events, (2) romantic relationship adjustment and communication behaviour, and (3) employability skills.
In Study 1, the strength of relationship between negative life events and distress varied across three latent classes, reflecting vulnerable, average, and resilient profiles. Graduated EI scores, in terms of emotional self-awareness, ability to express, and self-manage emotions, predicted membership to each class. Across the 414 survey respondents, these three EI abilities appeared to augment psychological resilience in the aftermath of negative life events.
In Study 2, all six EI abilities were found to be weakly associated with dyadic adjustment, and moderately associated with eight relationship enhancing communication behaviours. The eight behaviours were themselves moderately to very strongly associated with adjustment. Mediation analyses revealed that each EI ability influenced dyadic adjustment through the communication behaviours it best predicted. Across the 116 romantic partners surveyed, those better able to express and self-manage emotion communicated in the most relationship enhancing ways.
In Study 3, four of the six EI abilities were found to be differentially important in the prediction of seven Adaptive Performance dimensions, five Conflict Management strategies, three forms of Organizational Commitment, and seven Achievement Motivations. The abilities to think clearly under pressure, identify others' emotions, self-manage emotions, and manage others' emotions made valuable contributions, while emotional self-awareness, and the ability to express emotion, did not. Across the 105 workers surveyed, those with these four EI abilities appeared to have decidedly stronger employability skills, skills that distinguish between more and less successful workers of similar education and vocational experience, across all job families.
These findings are largely consistent with EI theory, and with the small body of research to have examined similar effects in similar domains. Importantly however, the current findings offer much more specific insights into the relative importance of each EI ability in each context, and thus, the means by which emotional intelligence contributes to a psychologically healthy, intimately connected, and vocationally valuable life.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/216659 |
| Date | January 2007 |
| Creators | Armstrong, Andrew R., n/a |
| Publisher | Swinburne University of Technology. |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | http://www.swin.edu.au/), Copyright Andrew R. Armstrong |
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