A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between emotional intelligence and health

Abstract

A meta-analysis of 44 effect sizes based on the responses of 7898 participants found that higher emotional intelligence was associated with better health. Emotional intelligence had a weighted average association of r = .29 with mental health, r = .31 with psychosomatic health, and r = .22 with physical health. Emotional intelligence measured as a trait was more strongly associated with mental health than emotional intelligence measured as an ability. Comparison of three measures of perceived trait emotional intelligence, the EQ-i (Bar-On, 2000), the Assessing Emotions Scale (Schutte et al., 1998), and the Trait Meta Mood Scale (Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995), showed that the EQ-i had a significantly stronger association with mental health than the other measures. The findings provide a basis for research aimed at determining the causal relationship between trait emotional intelligence and health.