A nationally representative study of emotional competence and health.

Abstract

Emotional competence (EC; also called "emotional intelligence"), which refers to individual differences in the identification, understanding, expression, regulation, and use of one's emotions and those of others, has been found to be an important predictor of individuals' adaptation to their environment. Higher EC is associated with greater happiness, better mental health, more satisfying social and marital relationships, and greater occupational success. Whereas a considerable amount of research has documented the significance of EC, 1 domain has been crucially under investigated: the relationship between EC and physical health. We examined the relationship between EC and objective health indicators in 2 studies (N1 = 1,310; N2 = 9,616) conducted in collaboration with the largest Mutual Benefit Society in Belgium. These studies allowed us (a) to compare the predictive power of EC with other well-known predictors of health such as age, sex, Body Mass Index, education level, health behaviors (diet, physical activity, smoking and drinking habits), positive and negative affect, and social support; (b) to clarify the relative weight of the various EC dimensions in predicting health; and (c) to determine to what extent EC moderates the effect of already known predictors on health. Results show that EC is a significant predictor of health that has incremental predictive power over and above other predictors. Findings also show that high EC significantly attenuates (and sometimes compensates for) the impact of other risk factors. Therefore, we argue that EC deserves greater interest and attention from health professionals and governments.

Effect of intrapersonal emotional competences on the relationship between attachment insecurity and severity of eating disorder symptoms in patients with restrictive anorexia

“…Contrary to our initial hypothesis of a deficit both at the intrapersonal and interpersonal levels, the results clearly show a gap between intrapersonal and interpersonal deficits and suggest that intrapersonal EC deficits, such as understanding and regulating emotions, are considerably impaired in patients with restrictive AN. This major effect on intrapersonal competences is in accordance with the results of the study by Mikolajczak et al (), showing that intrapersonal emotional competences are the most predictive of health outcomes and particularly of mental disorders.…”

Health literacy and the use of healthcare services in Belgium

“…The study took place within the framework of a larger study on emotions and health among the Belgian population 25. For that study, a stratified sample of 200 000 adults drawn from the database of the largest health insurance fund in Belgium (ie, the Mutualité Chrétienne–Christelijke Mutualiteit; MC-CM) was contacted by email and invited to complete an online survey.…”

Caregivers’ emotional competence and behavioral responsiveness as correlates of early childcare workers’ relationships with children in their care

“…The vast majority of studies in this area have centered on just one component of emotional competence: emotion regulation ability. However, emotional competence is multifaceted and includes the ability to identify, understand, express, and regulate emotion (Mikolajczak et al., ). Thus, another contribution of this research is that we focus on emotion understanding as well as emotion regulation ability because both constructs have been found to contribute to teachers’ well‐being and their ability to create a positive and supportive classroom environment (Mansfield, Beltman, Broadley, & Weatherby‐Fell, ; Zinsser, Denham, Curby, & Shewark, ).…”