The Protective Role of Emotional Intelligence in Self-Stigma and Emotional Exhaustion of Family Members of People with Mental Disorders

Abstract

Parenting a child or teenager is not particularly easy for parents, and this becomes even more difficult if a child has a serious mental disorder. This situation places parents in a vulnerable position that leads to heightened feelings of guilt and emotional stress. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the influence of the families’ emotional intelligence on their own self-stigma and burnout. A total of 537 family members from Southern Spain who care for individuals with mental disorders participated in this study. To analyze the results of the study, a structural equation model was constructed. The results from the equation showed that emotional intelligence is negatively related to self-stigma and burnout. In turn, self-stigma is positively related to burnout syndrome. Thus, the findings indicate that emotional intelligence may have a protective role against self-stigma, which is closely related to burnout syndrome. The relevance of these results when designing interventions that work with the negative feelings produced by self-stigma and family burnout is discussed.

Physical Activity Level, Mediterranean Diet Adherence, and Emotional Intelligence as a Function of Family Functioning in Elementary School Students

“…On the other hand, students who exhibit a moderate or severe degree of dysfunction show impairments in this aspect. These results are again consistent with other research studies, for example, those reported by Szczesniak and Tulecka [ 69 ], Trigueros et al [ 70 ], and Weinzimmer et al [ 71 ]. Specifically, these prior studies highlighted that more emotionally stable homes are more effective when it comes to transmitting and teaching children how to use and control emotions appropriately.…”

The Role of Perception of Support in the Classroom on the Students’ Motivation and Emotions: The Impact on Metacognition Strategies and Academic Performance in Math and English Classes

“…The psychologically controlling teaching scale (PCTS; Soenens et al, 2012) was used, in a version validated and adapted by Trigueros et al (2020) for the physical education (PE) context. On this scale, only the word physical education was replaced with either English or math (in each case), with the heading "My teacher of English or mathematics."…”

Family Ruptures, Stress, and the Mental Health of the Next Generation

“…Our emphasis on stress is influenced by a growing literature documenting persistent intergenerational transmission of socioeconomic status (see, e.g., Solon 2001 andChetty et al 2014 for evidence from the United States, and Boserup, Kreiner, and Kopczuk 2014 for evidence from Scandinavia). As low socioeconomic status women experience higher levels of stress than their more advantaged counterparts, 4 a causal link between fetal stress exposure and mental disease later in life could shed light on one channel through which disadvantage is transmitted across generations.…”

“…Further, recent neuroscientific evidence shows that mental illness is related to brain abnormalities that likely arise before birth, which further emphasizes the importance of the fetal environment. See, for example,Liu et al (2012) for depressionand Berquin et al (1998) andStoner et al (2014) for ADHD and other autism-spectrum diseases 4. See the recent discussion inThompson (2014) for evidence on self-reported stress levels.…”