Brief report: Trait emotional intelligence, peer nominations, and scholastic achievement in adolescence.

Current research on trait EI in adolescents suggests that the construct impacts on several important domains of youths' psychological functioning, including school adjustment and achievement. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of trait EI and of its subcomponents, on adolescent's academic achievement. Data were collected from 321 Italian adolescents (162 female; Mage = 15.5, SD = 1.86; aged 13-18 years) recruited from secondary schools. The effects of perceived and actual peer nominations, gender, personality dimensions, and non-verbal cognitive abilities were also controlled. Results highlight that trait EI as assessed by means of the TEIQue impacts Italian but not math's grades, while trait EI's factors predicted both academic subjects, with significant contributions of Self-Control and Sociability. Limitations and implications are discussed.

The Incremental Validity of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue): A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

A criticism leveled against the conceptualization of emotional intelligence (EI) as a personality trait is that it overlaps considerably with the higher order personality dimensions and, therefore, has weak utility. To investigate this criticism, a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted to synthesize the literature examining the incremental validity of the 2 adult self-report forms of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). Twenty-four articles reporting 114 incremental validity analyses of the TEIQue were reviewed according to the studies' methodological features. Additionally, data from 18 studies (providing 105 effect sizes) were pooled in a meta-analysis. Results suggest that the TEIQue consistently explains incremental variance in criteria pertaining to different areas of functioning, beyond higher order personality dimensions and other emotion-related variables. The pooled effect size was relatively small, but statistically and practically significant (ΔR(2) = .06, SE = .0116; 95% CI [.03, .08]). The number of covariates controlled for, the form of the TEIQue, and the focus on higher order personality dimensions versus other individual-difference constructs as baseline predictors did not affect the effect size. Analyses conducted at the factor level indicated that the incremental contribution is mainly due to the well-being and self-control factors of trait EI. Methodological issues and directions for future research are discussed.

Facial expressions of emotions: recognition accuracy and affective reactions during late childhood.

The present study examined the development of recognition ability and affective reactions to emotional facial expressions in a large sample of school-aged children (n = 504, ages 8-11 years of age). Specifically, the study aimed to investigate if changes in the emotion recognition ability and the affective reactions associated with the viewing of facial expressions occur during late childhood. Moreover, because small but robust gender differences during late-childhood have been proposed, the effects of gender on the development of emotion recognition and affective responses were examined. The results showed an overall increase in emotional face recognition ability from 8 to 11 years of age, particularly for neutral and sad expressions. However, the increase in sadness recognition was primarily due to the development of this recognition in boys. Moreover, our results indicate different developmental trends in males and females regarding the recognition of disgust. Last, developmental changes in affective reactions to emotional facial expressions were found. Whereas recognition ability increased over the developmental time period studied, affective reactions elicited by facial expressions were characterized by a decrease in arousal over the course of late childhood.

Alexithymia, verbal ability and emotion recognition.

Although previous studies seem to indicate that alexithymic individuals have a deficit in their ability to recognize emotional stimuli, none had studied the relationship between alexithymia and verbal and non verbal abilities and their possible role in emotion recognition. The aim of the present study is to further investigate the relationship between alexithymia and emotion recognition ability. In particular we studied whether this relationship is mediated by verbal ability. Thirty-five students were selected from a group of 91 University students previously screened for alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale; TAS-20). Participants were shown black and white slides depicting facial expression of the following emotions: anger, sadness, disgust, surprise, happiness and fear. Compared to low alexithymic participants, and, more importantly, taking verbal IQ into account, high alexithymic and low alexithymic participants did not differ in emotion recognition.

Greater pressor reactivity in women with pre-eclampsia is not related to specific psychological or emotional stressors.

To investigate whether emotional or psychosocial factors could be significantly related with the development of pre-eclampsia, 15 pregnant women with early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia and 15 normotensive pregnant controls of comparable age (23-37 yr.), gestational age (10-37 wk.), parity (70% primiparous), amount of instruction, and marital status underwent a blood pressure monitoring during a specific psychological assessment based on a semistructured interview followed by the administration of three different questionnaires: the Symptom Checklist 90-Revised, the Perceived Stress Questionnaire-Recent, and the Questionnaire about Social Relationships. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured at 2-min. intervals by an automatic device both during the interview and the questionnaires' administration. Both systolic and diastolic responses were significantly increased in both groups during the interview (deltaSBP = 15 vs. 10%; deltaDBP=28 vs. 15.8%), whereas no differences were observed in blood pressure while answering questionnaires. Conversely, differences in questionnaire responses between groups were not statistically significant. Present results confirm a greater pressor reactivity in these women with pre-eclampsia but does not specifically support that this was related to psychological or emotional stress.

Adult attachment styles and psychological disease: examining the mediating role of personality traits.

The aim of the present study was to examine differences in anxiety and depression related to differences in attachment models of the self and of others and whether personality traits mediate this relationship. The authors assessed attachment styles, anxiety, depression, and personality traits among 274 adult volunteers. Participants were classified into 4 attachment groups (secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing-avoidant) according to K. Bartholomew's (1990) model. The present authors found significant differences among attachment groups on anxiety and depressive symptoms with attachment styles involving a negative self-model showing higher scores than attachment styles characterized by a positive self-model. The authors also found that differences between attachment styles in anxiety and depression remained significant when personality factors related to attachment prototypes were entered as covariates. Results indicate that secure attachment in adults was associated with better mental health, while insecure attachment styles characterized by negative thinking about the self were associated with higher depression and anxiety scores. Our findings seem to evidence that attachment and personality are only partly overlapping and that attachment cannot be considered as redundant with personality in the explanation of psychological disease.

Watching emotional movies: affective reactions and gender differences.

Previous studies have found that unpleasant film clips depicting mutilated bodies or injuries evoke a sustained heart rate deceleration which has been interpreted as reflecting a stimulus-specific aversive response or as increased orienting and attentional processing that varies with stimulus significance. Few studies, however, have examined cardiac changes during the viewing of high arousal pleasant films. To clarify this issue, the present study assessed evaluative, facial and autonomic reactions in both men and women during the viewing of highly arousing pleasant, as well as unpleasant, films. Results indicated a similar skin conductance increase and heart rate deceleration which were greater than those observed during the viewing of a neutral film. Compared to men, women rated both films as less pleasant and rated the unpleasant film as more arousing. The present findings suggest that sustained exposure to pleasant and unpleasant stimuli elicit similar cardiac orienting when stimuli are equated for subjective report of emotional arousal.

Emotion recognition and expression in young obese participants: preliminary study.

This study of the presence of alexithymic characteristics in obese adolescents and preadolescents tested the hypothesis of whether they showed impaired recognition and expression of emotion. The sample included 30 obese young participants and a control group of 30 participants of normal weight for their ages. Stimuli, 42 faces representing seven emotional expressions, were shown to participants who identified the emotion expressed in the face. The Level of Emotional Awareness Scale was adapted for children to evaluate their ability to describe their emotions. Young obese participants had significantly lower scores than control participants, but no differences were found in recognition of emotion. The lack of words to describe emotions might suggest a greater prevalence of alexithymic characteristics in the obese participants, but the hypothesis of a general deficit in the processing of emotional experiences was not supported.

Anxiety and body satisfaction before and six months after mastectomy and breast reconstruction surgery.

As breast reconstruction is an important adjunct after mastectomy to regain physical integrity and also to improve affect, the present aim was to evaluate patients' subjective perceptions of body image during the whole breast reconstruction period and to assess the importance of their psychological reaction in terms of negative affectivity. Participants were 62 women, 43 women (M age = 46.4, SD = 9.8) who had had mastectomies and 19 healthy women (M age = 39.9, SD = 13.99). Patients were admitted for surgery at the Hospital S. Orsola in Bologna. Healthy subjects were relatives of the women and students, all with no history of breast pathology. The Body Satisfaction Scale and the State Anxiety Inventory-Y were administered to the two groups before, post, and 6 mo. after surgery. Analysis of scores indicated that during the period of the study, the women with mastectomies reported higher anxiety and also greater dissatisfaction with their body image than the healthy group, even when the breast had been reconstructed. This unexpected finding suggests patients' unrealistic expectations of the breast reconstruction and the surgical outcome.

Facial emotion recognition in trait anxiety.

The study investigated the relationship between recognition of emotional facial expressions and trait anxiety. A nonclinical sample of 19 participants with high-trait anxiety was selected, using the trait version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and compared with a sample of 20 participants with low-trait anxiety on a facial expression recognition task. Visual stimuli were 42 faces, representing seven emotional expressions: anger, sadness, happiness, fear, surprise, disgust and neutral. Participants had to identify the emotion portrayed by each face. Results showed that participants with high-trait anxiety recognized fear faces significantly better while the two groups did not differ in recognition of other facial expressions.

Narcissism versus proneness to shame and guilt.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlations between the narcissistic personality trait, measured with the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, and proneness to shame and guilt, measured with the Shame-Guilt Proneness Scale. Participants were 165 students (83 men, 82 women), aged 19-30 years. Pearson product-moment correlations, with computations comparing NPI Total score with each of the Shame-Guilt Proneness Scale subscales, were negative for scores on narcissism and shame and for those on narcissism and guilt. These data are consistent with previous findings, which suggest that the "overt" type narcissist is immune to feelings of guilt and may be characterised by a negation of the experience of shame.

Use of the Drawn Stories Technique to evaluate psychological distress in children.

This study evaluated the validity of analyzing children's drawings using the Drawn Stories Technique for psychodiagnostic assessment and clinical investigation of children. The research was conducted on a sample of 211 subjects (102 girls, 109 boys), 99 in primary school and 112 in secondary school. Three measures of psychological distress were given: the Drawn Stories Technique (considering two types of outcome of the stories as an index of psychological distress: story with a negative outcome and story with a positive outcome), and two self-report scales, the Anxiety Scale Questionnaire for Children and the Children's Depression Inventory. Analyses for both age groups indicate a prevalence of positive outcomes over negative outcomes, with a similar distribution in the two age groups. Greater anxiety and depression were found for subjects with a prevalence of negative outcome in the stories, and girls scored generally as more anxious and depressed than boys. These results indicate that the Drawn Stories Technique shows construct validity for use with children and is sensitive enough to detect their psychological distress, in terms of anxiety and depression.

Maternal attitudes and attachment styles in mothers of obese children.

This study evaluated categories of attachment style and the maternal attitude toward educational role in a sample of 30 mothers of obese children and a control group of 80 mothers of children of normal weight. All mothers completed the 1994 Attachment Style Questionnaire and the 1958 Parental Attitude Research Instrument. 30 mothers (M age 37.4 yr., range 31 to 54 years; M yr. of education 11.6, range 5 to 18 years) of obese children (range 30 to 60% above normal weight) and a control group of 80 mothers (M age 37.1 yr., range 29 to 52 years; M yr. of schooling 11.4, range 5 to 18 years) of children with normal weight were contacted at the primary school attended by their children and joined the project voluntarily. Age and number of years of education were not significantly different between the two groups of women. There was a significant prevalence of the Insecure Attachment Style in the group of mothers with obese children (66.6%) as compared to the control group of mothers of children of normal weight (38.5%) and significantly higher scores on 6 subscales of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument of Obese compared to Nonobese children. These data indicate that obese children's mothers tend to make the family their exclusive centre of interest. They also tend to dedicate themselves to their children with possessiveness and hyperprotection. They seem to have an insistent requirement of idealisation of their own role as parent and reward expectations that confirm the efficiency of the care they provide their children. Consequently, these findings suggest that in addition to dietetic treatment, it may be important to include a psychological intervention, which involves the mother and aims to modify the relational dynamics between the mother and her obese child.

Psychological distress of conservative and nonconservative uterine surgery: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the psychological reaction to conization before and after the operation compared to hysterectomy. To study the incidence of psychological stress related to conization, 60 women undergoing conization were compared to 40 women who had undergone hysterectomy. METHOD: Psychological disease was rated in the pre- and postoperative periods using the Symptom Questionnaire (SQ). Each patient was evaluated 2 weeks before the operation, and 3, 6 and 12 months after it. RESULTS: Both the conization and hysterectomy groups showed a significant reduction in anxiety and depression at the 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-ups compared to the preoperative period. Two weeks before surgery, 8 conization patients (19.5%) showed an anxious status, while 10 (24.3%) presented high levels of anxiety and depression. Within hysterectomy patients, the occurrence was respectively of 4 (12.9%) and 10 women (32.2%). Twelve months after surgery, of the women with preoperative depression, only four (9.7%) conization and four (12.9%) hysterectomy patients presented a negative mood status. A similar trend was present for somatic symptoms but only in the conization group, because the hysterectomy patients did not show a reduction in these symptoms from the preoperative to the postoperative period. This result could be related to the surgical menopause due to the bilateral oophoriectomy executed in more than half of the hysterectomy group. CONCLUSION: In general, the results of the present study show that the conservative and nonconservative uterine surgery determines a good psychological prognosis in the short- and long-term postoperative periods.

Emotional perception and neuroendocrine changes.

The present study was designed to investigate the neuroendocrine modifications during affective states. In particular, we investigate if the pleasantness of the stimuli has a different effect on neuroendocrine responses. To address this issue, we compared the effects of pleasant, neutral, and unpleasant pictures on catecholamine, adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), cortisol, and prolactin plasma levels. Ten male participants were submitted to three experimental sessions, each on one of the three experimental days, a week apart in a counterbalanced order. Although in the subjective arousal rating, pleasant (erotic pictures) and unpleasant stimuli (pictures of mutilated bodies) receive the same high score, a different neuroendocrine pattern was obtained: unpleasant stimuli elicited a decrease in prolactin concentration and increases in noradrenaline, cortisol, and ACTH levels, whereas pleasant slide set viewing induced an increase in prolactin levels. The results suggest that the neuroendocrine system responds selectively to affective motivationally relevant pictures.