Érzelmi intelligenciával a poszttraumás növekedés felé serdülőkorban

Abstract

Background and aims: The aim of our study was to investigate the potential for posttraumatic growth in adolescents in relation to callous-unemotional traits, emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-esteem. We hypothesized that callous-unemotional traits would be negatively correlated with (a) posttraumatic growth, (b) resilience, and (c) emotional intelligence. Furthermore, we proposed that emotional intelligence influences posttraumatic growth (a) directly, (b) through self-esteem, and (c) through the mediation of resilience.
Methods: Data were collected from 186 high school adolescents (average age 16,8 years) using the Posttraumatic Growth Inventory, the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Inventory of Callous‑Unemotional Traits, the 10-item version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale, and the Adverse Childhood Experiences, administered online. The mediating and correlational roles of these variables were examined.
Results: Our hypotheses were confirmed. Callous-unemotional traits were found to be moderately strong, significant negative predictors of posttraumatic growth and emotional intelligence, and they showed a weak but significant negative correlation with resilience. Regardless of our hypotheses, we found that callous-unemotional traits mediated the the realtionship between emotional intelligence and posttraumatic growth in 29,60% of cases. In turn, the effect of emotional intelligence is mediated by resilience in 63,11%, and by self-esteem in 20,21%. The mediating role of the latter was significant only for girls.
Discussion: Individuals with more callous-unemotional traits tend to have lower emotional intelligence and resilience, and are more likely to have difficulty achieving posttraumatic growth. On the other hand, our research concludes that the development of emotional intelligence, resilience, and self-esteem can mitigate the negative impact of callous-unemotional traits on posttraumatic growth, which can be facilitated by school psychologists within a school setting by taking these factors into account.