Reducing Anxiety and Social Stress in Primary Education: A Breath-Focused Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback Intervention.

Primary school students suffer from high levels of anxiety and stress. Having emotional regulation abilities can help them to manage challenging emotional situations. Conscious and slow breathing is a physiological, emotional regulation strategy that is feasible for primary school students to learn. Following Polyvagal Theory and PMER Theory, this research presents the results of a breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention. The intervention aimed to reduce anxiety and physiological and social stress in primary school children. A total of 585 students (46.4% girls and 53.6% boys) from the same public school, aged between 7 and 12 years (M = 8.51; SD = 1.26), participated in this study. To assess the impact of training, a mixed design was used with two groups (Treatment and Control groups), two evaluation phases (Pretest and Post-test), and three educational cycles (first, second and third cycles). To examine heart rate variability, emWave software was used and anxiety and social stress were measured by the BASC II test. The results showed that after the intervention, the students learned to breathe consciously. Moreover, they reduced their levels of anxiety (M(SD)pretest = 12.81(2.22) vs. M(SD)posttest = 13.70(1.98)) and stress (M(SD)pretest = 12.20(1.68) vs. M(SD)posttest = 12.90(1.44)). The work also discusses the limitations and benefits of this type of intervention in primary schools.

Emotional Self-Regulation in Primary Education: A Heart Rate-Variability Biofeedback Intervention Programme.

This study investigated the benefits of using a biofeedback intervention programme to train children in controlling their heart rate variability (HRV) through slow-paced breathing in real time. HRV biofeedback interventions focused on showing subjects to breathe such that their HRV numbers rise, improving their self-regulation. The HRV biofeedback intervention, focused on breathing, was conducted with primary education students aged between 7 and 11 years. The programme consisted of five biofeedback sessions, where students were taught to breathe six long and slow pairs of breaths per minute, to increase their HRV. After participation in the programme, students, regardless of gender, increased their HRV in a statistically significant fashion with a large effect, but this effect was not the same for all ages. HRV biofeedback interventions are rarely applied in schools and given the effectiveness of the intervention to improve HRV in children, the applied implications of our results in educational settings are discussed, especially taking into account the children's ages.

The Positive Loop at Work: A Longitudinal Long-Term Study of Transformational Leadership, Group Passion, and Employee Results.

Positive psychology and positive organizational behavior studies recognize that leadership is extremely important for generating positive well-being. Despite the frequently reported significant positive correlations, the causal long-term relationship between leadership, positive high intense affect, and employee results remains unclear. The main objective of this study was to analyze the long-term (longitudinal) relation of transformational leadership and positive high-intensity emotions with employee group satisfaction, commitment, and proactive behavior. We built a longitudinal structural equation model to test a mediation model with two time points; 2,480 workers from 166 work units completed questionnaires at both time points. Our results reveal that positive high-intensity emotions mediate the relation between transformational leadership and proactive behavior of workers, the bidirectional relations between the variables were also analyzed. The present study is, to our knowledge, the first analyzing the long-term effect of TFL and collective high-intensity emotions on worker's results longitudinally. Our findings reflect the great complexity of affect and affect-related results in organizations and highlight the need for more longitudinal research to clarify emotional processes at work.

Team Emotional Intelligence: Emotional Processes as a Link Between Managers and Workers.

Research has shown that transformational leaders are able, through emotional contagion mechanisms, to transmit their emotions and boost positive feelings among their followers. Although research on leadership and team processes have shown a positive relation between transformational leadership and workers' well-being, there is a lack of studies examining the "black box" of this association. The present study aimed to assess the mediation effect of team emotional intelligence (TEI) of the management team on the relationship between management's transformational behaviors and employees' responses. Data were gathered from two sources: 1,566 managers grouped into 188 teams pertaining to a total of 90 firms, and 4,564 workers from the same 90 firms. The results showed that management team TEI and the emotional state of "passion" among employees had a full mediation effect on the relationship between management teams' transformational leadership and employees' cohesion. Implications of these results are discussed.

Team Emotional Intelligence in Working Contexts: Development and Validation of the Team-Trait Meta Mood Scale (T-TMMS).

The collective construct of Team Emotional Intelligence (TEI) has been widely used and discussed. However, although several studies have examined the relationship between individual emotional intelligence and transformational leadership, few reports have explored the TEI of leadership teams. The aim of this study was to develop a scale to measure TEI, developing and validating the T-TMMS in a sample of 1,746 participants grouped into 152 leadership teams. The research design of the study was cross-sectional, and, in order to observe reliability as well as the construct, convergent, and predictive validity of the scale, we conducted an internal consistency analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, as well as a correlation and hierarchical linear regression analysis. The T-TMMS showed a three-factor structure (Attention, Clarity, and Repair), with adequate internal consistency, temporal stability, and convergent validity. We also examined the relationship between TEI and organizational performance. The limitations and implications of this new scale for organizational contexts are discussed.

The Emotional Divergent-Convergent Thinking Program (EDICOP): Design, Implementation, and Results.

In a social environment that requires young people to adapt to increasingly demanding situations, emotional education and creativity training may be key for both personal development and academic performance. Given that there are currently no known interventions that develop emotional and creative skills simultaneously in a youth population, the main objective of this study was to design, implement, and evaluate the Emotional Divergent-Convergent Thinking Program (EDICOP). The study design was quasi-experimental with a non-equivalent control group and pretest-posttest measures. The participants included 196 students between 16 and 24 years of age belonging to two centers of higher education. Our results showed that the EDICOP contributed to the improvement of the participants' divergent-proactive style, positive affectivity, emotional predisposition, and attention, as well as to their preference for cognition. Overall, the EDICOP is, therefore, both relevant and useful, and further research on the mood-creativity link is merited to generate new contexts in higher education for the promotion of both the emotional and creativity dispositions and self-awareness, by combining three basic psychological processes (emotion, cognition, and motivation).

Leaving A Mark, An Animal-Assisted Intervention Programme for Children Who Have Been Exposed to Gender-Based Violence: A Pilot Study.

Gender-based violence is one of the most serious social and health problems faced by women around the world. Importantly, it has a negative impact not only on the woman's physical and mental health, but also on all members of the family system in which it takes place. The aims of this study were to implement Leaving a Mark, an animal-assisted intervention (AAI) programme for children who have been exposed to gender-based violence, and to examine its effect on their associated clinical symptoms. The participants were 19 children (13 boys and 6 girls; Mage = 8.89, SD = 2.23) who had been exposed to domestic violence perpetrated either by their father or their mother's intimate partner. Clinical symptoms were assessed using the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL). After taking part in the AAI programme, the children showed a reduction in internalizing symptoms and in symptoms associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. However, no significant changes were observed in externalizing symptoms or in affective and behavioural dysregulation (CBCL-Dysregulation Profile). These results provide preliminary support for the use of the Leaving a Mark programme with children who have been exposed to domestic violence. However, further studies with a larger sample and more rigorous design are required.

The association between alexithymia, emotional intelligence and burnout among nursing assistants working in nursing home settings: A cross-sectional study.

AIMS: To determine the explanatory power of alexithymia and emotional intelligence over burnout and to examine their combined explanatory capacity over burnout in the context of older adult care. DESIGN: Cross-sectional. All participants voluntarily and anonymously completed a questionnaire survey. They were all blind to the aim of the study. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-nine nursing assistants recruited during 2014 took part in the study. They belong to 10 nursing homes in the north of Spain. Sociodemographic and work-related information was collected, and measures of burnout, alexithymia and emotional intelligence were administered. Data were examined by means of regression analyses. RESULTS: The analysis showed that alexithymia made a moderate contribution to the depersonalization and personal accomplishment dimensions of burnout, controlling for the influence of work characteristics. Emotional intelligence did not have incremental validity over alexithymia in explaining burnout. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia, rather than emotional intelligence, is a stronger explanatory variable for burnout among nursing assistants working in nursing homes. IMPACT: Alexithymia and emotional intelligence are related to burnout and help to explain why, in the same context, each worker is affected differently by chronic stress at work. However, their combined explanatory capacity in nursing assistants working with older people remains underexplored. In our sample, alexithymia explains burnout better than emotional intelligence, a finding that was both unexpected and theoretically relevant. Researchers should take this into account when studying personal resources to prevent and manage burnout among nursing assistants, as alexithymia, rather that emotional intelligence, could play an important role once workers are burned out. Training nursing assistants to identify and describe emotions should be considered as part of their training programmes and/or in nursing homes as an institutional strategy to prevent burnout and to improve the quality of older adult care.

Assessment of Entrepreneurial Orientation in Vocational Training Students: Development of a New Scale and Relationships With Self-Efficacy and Personal Initiative.

Having emerged as an important concept in the organizational field, entrepreneurial orientation has also become a key idea in the context of education. Indeed, entrepreneurial education is now one of the common objectives for education and training systems in the European Union. Despite its importance, however, there is a scarcity of valid and reliable measures for assessing entrepreneurial orientation in students. The present study aimed to address this by developing and examining the psychometric properties of the Entrepreneurial Orientation Scale (EOS). A second objective is to study the relationships between entrepreneurial orientation and gender, self-efficacy, and personal initiative. The sample comprised 411 vocational training students (50.36% male, 49.64% female). The final version of the instrument comprised 32 items assessing six dimensions: innovativeness, risk-taking, proactiveness, competitiveness, achievement orientation, and learning orientation. The EOS showed good psychometric properties and its dimensions demonstrated concurrent relationships with self-efficacy and personal initiative. The EOS may be used to measure entrepreneurial orientation in the educational context and to evaluate interventions designed to promote an entrepreneurial spirit in schools, colleges, and universities.

Stressful Life Events and Depressive Symptomatology Among Basque Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Attachment Representations.

The occurrence of stressful life events is a risk factor for psychopathology in adolescence. Depression is a problem of notable clinical importance that has a negative psychosocial impact on adolescents and which has considerable social, educational, and economic costs. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptomatology in adolescence, taking into account the effect that attachment representations may have on this relation. Participants were 1653 adolescents (951 girls) aged between 13 and 18 years. The sample was selected by means of a random sampling procedure based on the availability of schools to participate. Data were collected at two time points: attachment and stressful life events were assessed first, and symptoms of depression were evaluated eight to nine months later. Two time points were used in order to better analyze the mediating role of attachment security. Stressful life events were recorded using the Inventory of Stressful Life Events, attachment was evaluated by the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment (mother, father, and peer versions), and depressive symptomatology was assessed through the Children's Depression Scale. In all cases, the Basque version of these scales was used. The results indicated that attachment to parents was a mediating variable in the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptomatology. Contrary to what we expected, the results indicate that stressful life events did not have a negative effect on peer attachment, and neither did the latter variable act as a mediator of the relationship between stressful life events and depressive symptoms. It can be concluded that attachment-based interventions may be especially useful for reducing depression symptoms among adolescents. The findings also suggest a role for interventions that target parent-child attachment relationships.

Reducing Anxiety and Improving Academic Performance Through a Biofeedback Relaxation Training Program.

The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of a biofeedback relaxation training program on anxiety and academic performance. The program consisted of five biofeedback sessions coupled with three training activities focused on deep breathing, guided imagery, and muscle relaxation. The participants were second-year psychology undergraduates from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, northern Spain). The experimental group comprised 152 students (M age = 19.6, SD = 0.74; 74% women) and the control group 81 students (M age = 19.4, SD = 0.92; 71% women). Results showed that after participating in the program, students in the experimental group had lower levels of anxiety and increased academic performance. Furthermore, they scored lower on anxiety and higher on academic performance in comparison with the control subjects. This suggests that the inclusion of biofeedback training programs in educational contexts could be a way of reducing anxiety and improving academic performance. It may also deepen our understanding of the dynamic interplay between psychophysiological, cognitive, and emotional processes.

Peer attachment and class emotional intelligence as predictors of adolescents' psychological well-being: A multilevel approach.

The aim of the study was to analyze whether gender, age, peer attachment, and class-level emotional intelligence could predict adolescents' psychological well-being by applying a multilevel approach. The sample comprised 2182 secondary school students from the Basque Country (northern Spain) (from 118 classrooms, 51.6% girls), aged between 12 and 18 years. A two-level model (with students nested into classes) was used to analyze the influence of three level-one covariates (gender, age, and peer attachment) and one level-two covariate (class-level emotional intelligence) on the positive affect component of psychological well-being. The results showed an overall decrease in well-being as adolescents grow older, and an increase linked to a higher peer attachment. Furthermore, class-level emotional intelligence showed a positive relationship with students' well-being. This group-level covariate also strengthened the effect of peer attachment on the well-being. The advantages of using a multilevel approach for predicting mental health and psychological adjustment are discussed.

Adaptation and Validation of the Basque Version of the Emotional Creativity Inventory in Higher Education.

Emotional creativity is defined as the ability to feel and express emotions in a new, effective and authentic way. There are currently no Basque-language self-report instruments to provide valid and reliable measures of this construct. Thus, this paper describes the process of adapting and validating the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) for the Basque-speaking population. The sample was comprised of 594 higher education students (388 women and 206 men) aged between 18 and 32 years old (Mage = 20.47; SD = 2.48). The Basque version of the ECI was administered along with the TMMS-23, NEO PI-R, and PANAS. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the Basque ECI corroborated the original scale's three-factor structure (preparedness, novelty, and effectiveness/authenticity). Those dimensions showed acceptable indexes of internal consistency (α = .80, .83, and .83) and temporal stability (r = .70, .69, and .74). The study also provided some evidence of external validity (p < .05) based on the relationships found between emotional creativity and emotional intelligence, personality, affect, and sex. The Basque ECI can be regarded as a useful tool to evaluate perceived emotional creativity during the preparation and verification phases of the creative process.

Adaptation and validation of the Basque version of the emotional creativity inventory in higher education

Emotional creativity is defined as the ability to feel and express emotions in a new, effective and authentic way. There are currently no Basque-language self-report instruments to provide valid and reliable measures of this construct. Thus, this paper describes the process of adapting and validating the Emotional Creativity Inventory (ECI) for the Basque-speaking population. The sample was comprised of 594 higher education students (388 women and 206 men) aged between 18 and 32 years old (Mage = 20.47; SD = 2.48). The Basque version of the ECI was administered along with the TMMS-23, NEO PI-R, and PANAS. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the Basque ECI corroborated the original scale’s three-factor structure (preparedness, novelty, and effectiveness/ authenticity). Those dimensions showed acceptable indexes of internal consistency (α = .80, .83, and .83) and temporal stability (r = .70, .69, and .74). The study also provided some evidence of external validity (p < .05) based on the relationships found between emotional creativity and emotional intelligence, personality, affect, and sex. The Basque ECI can be regarded as a useful tool to evaluate perceived emotional creativity during the preparation and verification phases of the creative process (AU)

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Inteligencia emocional y género: más allá de las diferencias sexuales / Emotional intelligence and gender: beyond sex differences

La mayoría de los estudios sobre género e Inteligencia Emocional (IE) se han centrado en analizar diferencias en función del sexo y han mostrado resultados contradictorios. Con objeto de formular nuevas propuestas de análisis en este ámbito de estudio, el presente trabajo examina el efecto de la identidad de género sobre la IE en una muestra de 338 trabajadores/as. Para la medida de la IE se utilizaron tanto medidas de auto-percepción (TMMS) como de habilidad (MSCEIT). Los resultados indican que la aceptación de rasgos de expresividad por parte de las mujeres podría explicar sus mayores puntuaciones en IE. Además, los resultados muestran que las personas andróginas, en comparación con las instrumentales y expresivas, presentan niveles superiores de IE. A partir de tales resultados, se pone de manifiesto la necesidad de ir más allá del enfoque de las diferencias sexuales en IE y de promover referentes de identidad de género menos estereotipados (AU)

Research on gender and Emotional Intelligence (EI) has analysed individual differences in relation to sex and has yielded contradictory results. With the aim of suggesting new proposals in this field of study, the present work analyses the influence of gender identity on EI in a sample of 338 workers. We combined self-report measures (TMMS) and ability based measures (MSCEIT) of Emotional Intelligence. Results indicate that women's higher acceptance of expressive traits may help to explain their higher scores on EI. Also, results show that androgynous individuals, compared with instrumental and expressive individuals, present higher levels of EI. Taking into account these results, the need to go beyond the "sex differences" approach when analysing EI and to develop less stereo-typed gendered identity references is discussed (AU)

Cooperation, competition and goal interdependencia in work teams: a multilevel approach / Cooperación, competición e interdependencia de objetivos en los equipos de trabajo: un enfoque multinivel

The aim of this research was to predict cooperative and competitive conflict management styles in 26 new start-up work teams (time 1), and after one year of functioning (time 2) in an automotive company. Vertical-horizontal, individualism-collectivism cultural patterns were used as predictive variables. It was predicted that goal interdependence would moderate the relationship between cultural patterns and conflict management styles. Because of the hierarchically nested data structure, a Multilevel Analysis approach was used. Horizontal and vertical collectivism increased cooperation, and horizontal and vertical individualism increased competition. Only when work teams had been functioning for a year, goal interdependence increased cooperation and interaction effects between goal interdependence and vertical types of individualism and collectivism were observed. Implications for teambuilding as organizational transformational strategies are discussed

Este trabajo trata de predecir estilos de manejo de conflictos cooperativos y competitivos en 26 equipos de trabajo de reciente construcción (tiempo 1) y tras un año de funcionamiento (tiempo 2) en una compañía de automoción. Los cuatro patrones culturales de individualismo-colectivismo, horizontal-vertical, fueron considerados como variables predictoras. Se hipotetizó que la interdependencia de objetivos moderaría la relación entre los patrones culturales y las conductas de manejo de conflictos. Dada la naturaleza jerárquica de los datos (individuos anidados en equipos) se utilizó una estrategia de análisis multinivel. Los patrones individualistas se mostraron asociados positivamente con la competición, mientras que los colectivistas lo hicieron con la cooperación. La interdependencia de objetivos se asoció con mayores niveles de cooperación únicamente en el tiempo 2. Asimismo, se produjeron efectos de interacción entre la interdependencia de objetivos y los tipos de individualismo y colectivismo verticales. Se discuten las implicaciones de los resultados para la construcción de equipos como estrategias de transformación cultural de las organizaciones

Cooperation, competition and goal interdependence in work teams: a multilevel approach.

The aim of this research was to predict cooperative and competitive conflict management styles in 26 new start-up work teams (time 1), and after one year of functioning (time 2) in an automotive company. Vertical-horizontal, individualism-collectivism cultural patterns were used as predictive variables. It was predicted that goal interdependence would moderate the relationship between cultural patterns and conflict management styles. Because of the hierarchically nested data structure, a Multilevel Analysis approach was used. Horizontal and vertical collectivism increased cooperation, and horizontal and vertical individualism increased competition. Only when work teams had been functioning for a year, goal interdependence increased cooperation and interaction effects between goal interdependence and vertical types of individualism and collectivism were observed. Implications for team-building as organizational transformational strategies are discussed.