Trait Emotional Intelligence provides incremental validity over the Big Five in the prediction of emotion-focused, but not task-focused coping

摘要

People tend to adopt ‘coping strategies’ when faced with environmental stressors. These coping strategies can be broadly categorised as either ‘emotion-focussed’ or ‘task-focused’ coping, depending on whether individuals focus on modifying their emotions or the situation to reduce stress. This study sought to explore the potential role of trait in the prediction of adaptive coping strategies. It was hypothesised that Emotional Intelligence would predict adaptive emotion focussed coping, over and above the effects of age, gender and the . No relationship was hypothesised between and task-focussed coping. Results were based on data from 145 students participating in an online task involving several questionnaires and a difficult problem designed to induce task-stress. It was found that provided incremental validity in the prediction of emotion-focussed but not task-focussed coping. Results are discussed in terms of coping success in terms of both objective performance and stress-reduction.