The Dark Tetrad: analysis of profiles and relationship with the Big Five personality factors.

The Dark Tetrad (DT) is composed of the traits of Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Sadism. Most studies analyzing the DT have employed a variable-centered approach, analyzing the traits separately. In the present study, we treat DT as a whole, adopting a person-centered approach. We analyzed different homogeneous subgroups of individuals characterized by specific DT profiles, aiming to examine their relationship with Big Five personality factors. A sample of 1149 participants (50.1% women, 18-79 years) completed The Short Dark Triad and the Assessment of Sadistic Personality instrument to assess DT, while the Mini-IPIP was used to assess the Big Five personality factors. Cluster analysis yielded five groups: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Mean DT, Low DT, and High DT group. The main results showed that the High DT group was distinguished by higher levels of extraversion and lower levels of agreeableness and conscientiousness (compared with the Low DT group). Moreover, the Narcissism group was characterized by higher scores on emotional stability, openness to experience, and extraversion. Finally, distribution according to gender varied across DT groups (more men than women in the High DT group and the opposite in the Low DT group). Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

Differential Impact of Emotional and Contextual Factors Associated with COVID-19 on Adolescent Mental Health.

Background: During the confinement, there was an increase in the incidence of mental disorders such as depression and anxiety. In this regard, affectivity is of particular interest, as emotions play a fundamental role in overall mental health. The literature on COVID-19 in this population has often focused on the analysis of risk factors for mental health, while less attention has been paid to protective factors. In this paper, we propose an inclusive model of risk and protective factors for adolescent mental health through the indirect effect of negative and positive affect. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a Spanish community sample of 477 adolescents (Mage = 16.23, range:14 to 20 years old; 43.4% were boys; response rate: 100%). We measured the perceived hardness of confinement, worrying about contagion, quality of relationships at home, pleasant activities, affect (positive and negative), and mental health. Results: The results revealed a positive relationship between the perceived hardness of confinement and worrying about contagion with mental health, through the indirect effect of negative affect, and a positive relationship between home relationships and pleasant activities with mental health through an indirect effect of positive affect. Conclusion: Our results suggest that different types of emotions generated by the various contextual variables associated with COVID-19 may have a differential impact on mental health. These findings support the inclusive model of risk and protective factors for adolescent mental health. Practical implications, future studies, and limitations are discussed.

Impulsivity and sensitivity to reward as mediating factors of the negative relationship between emotional intelligence and health-related risk-taking: evidence from a sample of university students.

BACKGROUND: Better abilities in emotional intelligence (EI) have been linked to a decreased tendency to engage in health-related risk behaviour. However, the processes underlying this relationship are still unclear. The aim of this research was to examine the role of impulsivity and sensitivity to reward as mediating factors in the relationship between EI and health risk-taking. METHODS: Two hundred and fifty participants (Mage = 23.60, age range = 18-59; SD = 6.67; 71.60% women) were assessed on ability EI levels, risk-taking in health contexts, impulsivity, and sensitivity to reward. Unlike previous studies in the literature, we employed a performance-based ability measure to assess EI (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, MSCEIT). RESULTS: The results confirmed the negative relationship between EI and health risk-taking and revealed the existence of a significant negative indirect effect of EI on health-risk taking through various dimensions of impulsivity and sensitivity to reward. EI abilities -particularly the ability to manage emotions- were associated with lower levels of impulsivity under positive and negative emotional states, a better management of the tendency towards sensation seeking, and a decreased emotional reactivity to rewards. CONCLUSIONS: The present research provides a better understanding of the processes underlying the negative relationship between EI and health risk-taking. Our findings suggest that having higher levels of EI abilities would allow for a more objective evaluation of risk scenarios and a more appropriate and safer decision making through its influence on the levels of impulsivity and emotional reactivity to rewards. Practical implications, limitations, and future lines of research are discussed.

Implicit theories of women preschool pre-service teachers and emotional intelligence.

Introduction: Pre-service teachers should be prepared to face the emotionally demanding situations associated with the profession. The previous literature suggests that two variables are important for managing teaching demands: emotional intelligence (EI) or the ability to perceive, facilitate, understand, and manage emotions and implicit theories (ITs). ITs refer to the beliefs about the malleability of various life domains. Individuals can be divided into incremental theorists (believing that attributes are malleable) and entity theorists (attributes are fixed). Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the influence of ITs of intelligence and EI on self-report and ability EI in a sample of female preschool pre-service teachers. Method: In total, 224 participants (M = 21.27, SD = 4.72) were assessed on ability EI (performance and self-report instruments), ITs of intelligence, ITs of EI, age, and parental education. Results: In our sample, incremental EI-but not intelligence-theories predicted higher scores on self-report and ability EI. In particular, being an incremental theorist of EI predicted 11 and 20% of the variance of the global EI and the managing branch of the ability EI, respectively. Conclusion: Our findings suggest the importance of ITs of EI for pre-service teachers' emotional intelligence and open the door to implementing ITs of EI training in this population. These theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Ability Emotional Intelligence and Subjective Happiness in Adolescents: The Role of Positive and Negative Affect.

Adolescence is an increasingly vulnerable period for the onset of affective disorders and other mental health issues that can significantly impact an individual's subjective well-being. This study aims to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence (ability EI), measured with a performance-based instrument, and Subjective Happiness in adolescents. It also explores the mediating role of positive (PA) and negative affect (NA) in this association and the moderating role of gender. The sample consisted of 333 first-year secondary school students from five centers in Spain, with an average age of 12.11 years (SD = 0.64), ranging from 11-14 years. Path analysis revealed an indirect effect (through NA and PA jointly) of Total Ability EI on Subjective Happiness and a positive direct effect that was observed only in females. Furthermore, this association was explored through various branches of ability EI. The results of this study suggest that interventions aimed at improving emotional abilities in adolescents while modulating the intensity of their emotions could significantly impact their overall well-being.

Emotion regulation difficulties and sleep quality in adolescence during the early stages of the COVID-19 lockdown.

INTRODUCTION: Adolescence is a period of vulnerability for emotion regulation and sleep difficulties, risks that might be compounded by intense COVID-19 lockdowns and challenges. The aim of this study was to investigate how sleep quality related to emotion regulation difficulties in adolescents during lockdown in Perú. METHODS: Participants were 2563 adolescents enrolled in Innova school in Perú (11 - -17 years) in May 2020. Hypotheses were derived from exploring one half of the sample, preregistered at https://osf.io/fuetz/, and then confirmed in the second half of the sample. Participants completed subjective surveys of sleep quality (short PSQI) and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form (DERS-SF). RESULTS: Worse sleep quality was robustly associated with more difficulties in emotion regulation across both samples. The association was found particularly for emotion regulation subscales related to the ability to engage in goal directed behavior in the face of distress, emotional clarity and strategies to deal with feeling distressed. In contrast, there was no robust association between sleep and the ability to regulate impulses in the context of negative emotions, and no association with the ability to accept emotions. Girls and older adolescents robustly endorsed worse sleep quality and more difficulties in emotion regulation. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional nature of this study prevents us from determining the direction of the association. Data were collected using adolescent self-report which, while informative of adolescent perceptions, might diverge from objective measures of sleep or emotion regulation difficulties. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings with adolescents in Perú contribute to our understanding of the association between sleep and emotion regulation at a broader global scale.

Emotion regulation strategies and aggression in youngsters: The mediating role of negative affect.

Aggression in youngsters is a highly prevalent problem worldwide. Given that this problem has negative consequences for society, aggressors, and victims, the present study aims to understand the processes underlying the acts of aggression in this population. Specifically, we analyze the role of two emotional regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression) and the positive and negative affect variables in aggressive behavior. For this purpose, 654 primary and high school students aged between 9 and 18 years (47.6% boys) were assessed on emotion regulation, positive and negative affect, and aggression through the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire, respectively. The results revealed that higher use of the cognitive reappraisal strategy was correlated with lower levels of aggression (for total, physical, and anger). In contrast, the opposite was observed with expressive suppression (for total aggression and hostility). More important for the purposes of this study was the finding that the negative affect variable mediated the relationship between expressive suppression and aggressive behavior. Specifically, those individuals who made greater use of the expressive suppression strategy had higher levels of negative affect, which, in turn, was associated with higher levels of aggression. Cognitive reappraisal appeared to be only directly related with a reduction in total aggression. Thus, higher levels of cognitive reappraisal were related to a reduction in aggressive behavior. However, when focusing on the four dimensions of aggression, the relationship between cognitive reappraisal and aggression appears to be mediated by negative affect and, in the case of anger, by positive affect. The limitations and implications of these findings are discussed.

Adaptation and validity of the Trait Meta-Mood scale for Brazilian adolescents.

The current study aimed to present the process of adaption and validity evidence of the Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS-24) for the population of Brazilian school adolescents. The study included 4,681 students aged 10 to 19 years old, attending public schools in 12 cities in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. According to the original scale, the exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses indicated adequate fit indexes and satisfactory reliability for the model composed of 24 items and three factors (attention, clarity, and repair). The scale showed a significant positive correlation with life satisfaction and psychological well-being. The results reveal that the TMMS-24 is adequate for the assessment of emotional intelligence among Brazilian adolescents and may contribute to research and interventions regarding emotional competencies among this population.

Does our cognitive empathy diminish with age? The moderator role of educational level.

INTRODUCTION: The literature has demonstrated how the relationship between cognitive or emotional intelligence and age exhibits an inverted-U-shape and that this decline can be mitigated by an individual's cognitive reserve (CR). Rather less is known, however, about the pattern of changes in cognitive empathy or the ability to recognize the thoughts or feelings of others. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was firstly to analyze the effect of age, gender, and CR (measured through educational level), on the capacity to show cognitive empathy. Secondly, we aimed to evaluate what type of relationship-linear or quadratic-exists between age and cognitive empathy. We finally aimed to analyze the moderator role of educational level on the relationship between age and cognitive empathy. PARTICIPANTS: Totally, 902 Spanish adults aged between 18 and 79 years (M = 43.53, SD = 11.86; 57% women). MEASUREMENTS: Participants were asked to indicate their educational level (primary, high school, or college education) and their cognitive empathy was assessed using the Eyes test. RESULTS: Women scored higher than men on cognitive empathy. Participants with a college education had higher scores on cognitive empathy than those with a lower educational level. Additionally, the relationship between age and cognitive empathy fit an inverted-U-shaped curve, consistent with the data found for cognitive and emotional intelligence. Finally, the age-related decrease in cognitive empathy appeared to be mitigated by a higher educational level, but only in those individuals aged 35 years and above. Limitations and clinical implications are discussed.

Systematic review and meta-analysis: The association between emotional intelligence and subjective well-being in adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: Emotional intelligence (EI) is a psychological protective factor that can improve subjective well-being (WB) in adolescents. This study aims to establish the overall relationship between different EI models (performance-based ability model, self-report ability model, and self-report mixed model) and subjective WB in adolescents, analyze the affective WB and cognitive WB components, and examine the moderating effect of EI models on both types of subjective WB. METHOD: We searched PsycINFO and WOS databases. Eligible studies reported an association between EI and subjective WB in adolescents aged 10-19 years using instruments that directly measure subjective WB. In addition, two meta-analyses were conducted, one for the relationship between EI and affective WB and the other for EI and cognitive WB. RESULTS: A total of 41 studies were included, of which 37 were pooled in the meta-analyses. We found a significant positive relationship between EI and affective WB (estimated effect size = 0.35) and between EI and cognitive WB (estimated effect size = 0.27). Regarding EI models, self-report ability showed an estimated effect size of 0.33 for affective WB and 0.27 for cognitive WB. For the self-report mixed model, we obtained an estimated effect size of 0.42 for affective WB and 0.37 for cognitive WB. CONCLUSIONS: Establishing a quantitative relationship between EI and subjective WB makes it possible to implement clinical and educational prevention measures. Introducing EI training in educational and clinical settings can increase subjective WB, significantly impacting the prevention of emotional disorders in adolescents.

A longitudinal study of the influence of concerns about contagion on negative affect during the COVID-19 lockdown in adults: The moderating effect of gender and resilience.

The COVID-19 global pandemic has had psychological consequences worldwide. The aim of the present study was to analyze the effect of concerns about contagion on negative affect (NA) according to resilience, gender and age by using a longitudinal methodology that evaluated the participants 4 months before the COVID-19 outbreak and during the resulting lockdown situation imposed by the Spanish government. About 102 participants from a community sample were assessed. The results revealed higher levels of NA during the lockdown, as well as a positive relationship between age and the increase in NA. In addition, we found that a positive relationship between contagion concern and increase in NA was only observed in women with low resilience.

Personal Risk and Protective Factors Involved in Aggressive Behavior.

The study of aggression plays a prominent role in psychology and public health, because of the important adverse consequences of such behavior for victims, aggressors, and society in general. The General Aggression Model (GAM) provides a general conceptual framework for understanding the aggressive as a result of three stages: (a) inputs: personal and situational factors; (b) present internal states: affect, cognition, and arousal; and (c) outcomes: decision processes with a (non)aggressive result. The main objective of this research was to study the personal protective and risk factors most strongly associated with aggressive behavior acting at the first stage of the GAM model. A total of 282 young adult participants took part in this study. Participants were assessed for aggression levels and a set of the most relevant variables that have been associated with aggressive behavior in the previous literature. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that levels of aggression were mainly associated (73.2% of the explained variance) with the following protective factors: the ability to manage emotions as a component of emotional intelligence (EI), and perspective-taking and personal distress as components of empathy, and with the following risk factors: negative and positive urgency as a component of impulsivity, fantasy as a component of empathy, negative affect, and expressive suppression of emotions. These findings provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying aggressive behavior and provide greater empirical value to the current theoretical models. In addition, this research can help to inform the design of more successful programs for the prevention, control, and treatment of aggressive behavior. Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

The Role of Sensitivity to Reward and Punishment in Aggression.

The study of the risk and protective factors in aggression is of fundamental importance for our society. The aim of this research was to clarify the role of sensitivity to reward/punishment in aggression and provide a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying this relationship, particularly given that previous studies in the literature have yielded mixed results. To this end, two studies were conducted. In Study 1 (484 participants; Mage = 39.09; 48.6s women), we explored the relationship between sensitivity to reward and punishment and four components of aggression: physical, verbal, anger, and hostility. In Study 2 (229 participants; Mage = 21.52; 56.77% women), we investigated the moderating role of emotion regulation ability in this relationship. The findings of Studies 1 and 2 supported the existence of a positive relationship between sensitivity to reward and aggression, that is, a high reactivity to reward acted as a risk factor. With respect to sensitivity to punishment, mediation analysis revealed that this variable may act both as a protective factor as well as a risk factor for behavioral aggression. A higher reactivity to punishment had a direct negative effect on physical and verbal aggression, inhibiting aggressive behavior. However, a higher reactivity to punishment also implied a positive indirect effect on physical and verbal aggression through an increase in anger and hostility. Interestingly, Study 2 revealed that these indirect effects were moderated by emotion regulation ability. Our results could help to inform the design of aggression prevention and intervention programs for reducing the impact of this behavior on our society.

Emotional Intelligence and Aggressive Behaviors in Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Adolescent aggression is a global public health with long-lasting and costly emotional, social, and economic consequences, and it is of vital importance to identify those variables that can reduce these behaviors in this population. Therefore, there is a need to establish the protective factors of aggressive behavior in adolescence. While some research has demonstrated the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and various aggressive responses in adolescence, indicating that EI-or the ability to perceive, use, understand, and regulate emotions-could be considered a protective factor for the development of aggressive behavior in adolescence, the strength of this effect is not clear. The aim of the present study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature concerning the relationship between aggressive behavior and EI in adolescents and provide a reliable estimate of the relationship between both constructs through a meta-analysis. For this purpose, we searched for relevant articles in English and Spanish in Medline, PsycINFO, and Scopus, obtaining 17 selectable articles based on the search terms used in research in the adolescent population. These studies provide scientific evidence of the relationship between the level of EI assessed from the three theoretical models of EI (performance-based ability model, self-report ability model, and self-report mixed model) and various aggressive responses, showing that adolescents with higher levels of EI show less aggressive behavior. Implications for interventions and guidelines for future research are discussed.

Emotional Disorders During the COVID-19 Outbreak in Spain: The Role of Sociodemographic Risk Factors and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Strategies.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive emotion regulation strategies (CERS) play a transdiagnostic role in emotional disorders, but the role of these strategies in coping with emotions during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic remains poorly understood. AIMS: To assess the presence of emotional disorders in Spain and the association to sociodemographic characteristics and CERS during the COVID-19 outbreak. METHOD: Cross-sectional survey administered through an online platform. Sociodemographic variables and CERS (CERQ-Short) were collected and possible diagnoses of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD, GAD-7), major depression disorder (MDD; Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]), panic attacks (PA; PHQ-PD), and panic disorders (PD; PHQ-PD) were assessed. Sociodemographic risk factors and CERS association to the possible diagnosis of emotional disorders were reported with hierarchical multivariate logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: A total of 1,753 respondents completed the questionnaire in Spain. Of these, most (76.8%) were female, with a mean (SD) age of 40.4 years (12.9). A high proportion of participants met diagnostic criteria for emotional disorders: 15.3% for GAD, 12.2% for MDD, 17.2% for PD, and 25.7% had experienced a PA. The contribution of sociodemographic variables to diagnoses of emotional disorders was modest, explaining from 3.1% to 5.7% of the variance; however, when CERS were added, the combination of sociodemographic and CERS explained from 15% to 29% of the variance. Rumination and catastrophizing were the most transdiagnostic maladaptive strategies and positive refocusing was another adaptive strategy. DISCUSSION: Although results from convenience samples should be handled with caution, the high prevalence of emotional disorders in this study suggests that the demand of mental health interventions will probably increase in Spain. Also, CERS play a clear role in the presence of these disorders. CONCLUSION: Intervention programs should focus on training CERS in populations at high risk, focusing on the reduction of maladaptive CERS and the reinforce of other more adaptive CERS.

Is It Possible to Be Happy during the COVID-19 Lockdown? A Longitudinal Study of the Role of Emotional Regulation Strategies and Pleasant Activities in Happiness.

This study aimed to longitudinally analyze the role played by two emotional regulation strategies (cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression), through the mediating effect of engagement in pleasant activities during lockdown, in changes in affective and cognitive happiness in comparison with pre-pandemic levels. Eighty-eight participants from a community sample were evaluated at two timepoints. At timepoint 1 (before the COVID-19 pandemic), participants were evaluated on emotional regulation and cognitive and affective happiness. At timepoint 2 (during the COVID-19 lockdown), participants were evaluated on cognitive and affective happiness and the frequency with which they engaged in pleasant activities. We found an optimal fit of the proposed model in which cognitive reappraisal was significantly related to engagement in more pleasant activities during the lockdown. In turn, these pleasant activities were related to more affective happiness during the lockdown (compared with pre-pandemic levels), and this affective happiness was associated with greater cognitive happiness. In conclusion, cognitive reappraisal was a protective factor for affective and cognitive happiness through the mediating role of engagement in pleasant activities during lockdown. Limitations and future lines of investigation are discussed.

Spanish Adaptation and Validation of the 34-Item Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP).

The recent conceptualization of psychopathy as a dimensional construct has given rise to the need for validated instruments for use in nonclinical populations. The Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (SRP-III) is a questionnaire widely used to evaluate psychopathic traits in clinical and nonclinical samples in the English-speaking population. Using a community sample, the authors aimed to adapt and validate, to the Spanish language, the SRP-III based on the English short-form version by Mahmut, Menictas, Stevenson, and Homewood (2011). The SRP-III was administered to 1,938 participants. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the four-factor model satisfactorily fits the data. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were adequate for the total score and its four facets. The SRP-III also showed good construct validity as measured through its relationship with personality, depression, empathy, machiavellianism, and narcissism. These results suggest that the Spanish version of the 34-item SRP-III is an adequate measurement of psychopathic traits.

The 'Reading the mind in the Eyes' test and emotional intelligence.

The 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes' test (Eyes Test) has been widely used to measure theory of mind (ToM) or the ability to recognize the thoughts and feelings of others. Although previous studies have analysed its relationship with the ability to perceive emotions, the potential links with more complex emotional abilities remain unclear. The aim of the present research was to analyse the relationship between the Eyes Test and each of the emotional intelligence (EI) branches: perceiving, facilitating, understanding and managing emotions. In addition, we were interested in studying these relationships as a function of the Eyes Test difficulty. Eight hundred and seventy-four participants completed the Eyes Test and the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test. A stepwise multiple regression analysis for the total score on the Eyes Test revealed that the best fitting model included the understanding, perceiving and managing emotion branches, with the understanding branch being the one most strongly associated with performance on the Eyes Test. Interestingly, stepwise multiple regression analysis for the easiest items of the Eyes Test revealed the same predictors, but, in the case of the most difficult items only the understanding branch was a predictor. These outcomes were not moderated by the influence of gender. Our findings support the notion that the Eyes Test can be used as a ToM task and that it is associated with complex EI abilities. Limitations and future lines of investigation are discussed.

Relationship between the Dark Triad and depressive symptoms.

The Dark Triad (DT) is composed of three closely related personality traits: psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism. These traits have been linked to emotional deficits. The aim of the present study was to analyze the relationship between the DT traits, including sub-dimensions, and depressive symptoms in order to identify those factors most strongly associated with the development of depression in individuals scoring high on DT. For these purposes, a total of 791 adults (M = 35.76 years; 24.91% males) completed a questionnaire battery including DT traits and depression measures. A positive significant correlation was found between psychopathy and Machiavellianism traits (total score and all sub-dimensions) and depressive symptoms. For narcissism, the direction of the correlation was dependent on the sub-dimension assessed. A model explaining 26.2% of the depressive symptoms scores was composed of the callous affect and criminal tendencies sub-dimensions of psychopathy, cynical view of human nature, which is a sub-dimension of Machiavellianism, and entitlement and self-sufficiency, which are sub-dimensions of narcissism. In addition, some of the relationships found between DT sub-dimensions and depressive symptoms appeared to depend on gender. Our results could have implications for detection and intervention programs aimed at decreasing the negative emotional consequences suffered by individuals with high DT scores. Limitations and future lines of research are discussed.

Emotionally intelligent people reappraise rather than suppress their emotions.

It has long been thought that emotional intelligence (EI) involves skillful emotion regulation, but surprisingly little is known about the precise links between EI and emotion regulation. To address this gap in the literature, we examined the relation between EI-operationalised as an ability-and the use of two common emotion regulation strategies-cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. Seven hundred and twelve participants from a community sample in Spain were assessed on ability EI (using the MSCEIT) and emotion regulation (using the ERQ). Findings revealed that EI ability was positively associated with cognitive reappraisal and negatively associated with expressive suppression. These relationships were moderated by gender and age. The strength of the association between EI and cognitive reappraisal increased with age for men, while this strength decreased with age for women. Conversely, the strength of the association between EI and suppression decreased with age for men, but increased with age for women. These findings confirm the expectation that EI is associated with greater use of generally adaptive forms of emotion regulation (reappraisal), and lesser use of generally maladaptive forms of emotion regulation (suppression), although effect sizes were quite modest. Observed differences in the strength of associations between EI and emotion regulation may be the result of gender differences in the development of emotional skills along with cultural changes in emotional education and social norms.