Emotional Intelligence Relates to Well-Being: Evidence from the Situational Judgment Test of Emotional Management

Abstract

Background: This research was conducted to examine whether people high in emotional intelligence (EI) have greater well-being than people low in EI.

Method: The Situational Test of Emotion Management, Scales of Psychological Well-being, and Day Reconstruction Method were completed by 131 college students.

Results: Responses to the Situational Test of Emotion Management were strongly related to eudaimonic well-being as measured by responses on the Scales of Psychological Well-being (r=.54). Furthermore, the ability to manage emotions was related to hedonic well-being, correlating with both the frequency of experienced positive affect and the frequency of experienced negative affect, as measured by the Day Reconstruction Method.

Conclusion: Two aspects of these results suggest a relationship between EI and well-being. First, the observed relationship between ability EI and psychological well-being is the largest reported in the literature to date. Second, this study is the first use of the Day Reconstruction Method to examine the relationship between well-being and EI. Results are discussed in terms of the potential for training emotion management to enhance well-being. Methodological advances for future research are also suggested.

Keywords: day reconstruction method; emotion management; emotional intelligence; well-being.