Can Peer Victimization Invalidate the Positive Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Adolescents' Health-Related Quality of Life?
Ángela de Lourdes Martín-Pérez, Juan José Gascón-Cánovas
PMID 41748128WHAT IT FOUND
Among 1343 adolescents, higher emotional intelligence was linked to better psychological well-being and peer support.
Very high peer victimization weakened the link with peer support, but not psychological well-being.
Key findings
01Higher emotional intelligence scores were associated with higher psychological well-being and social support/peer scores.
02Peer victimization was negatively associated with psychological well-being; the strongest adjusted association was with social victimization (β = −0.20; 95% CI −0.24 to −0.15).
03Peer victimization moderated the association between emotional intelligence and social support/peers, adding 0.4% explained variance, but did not moderate psychological well-being.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study used self-reported questionnaires, so recall bias and inaccurate reporting are possible. The design was cross-sectional, so it cannot show that emotional intelligence causes better quality of life or that victimization causes worse quality of life. The victimization scale may not clearly separate frequent, very frequent, and constant experiences, and it may miss occasional bullying. Cyberbullying was not measured, so online victimization may be underestimated. Most participants were Spanish, so results may not transfer directly to other countries. The moderating effect was small, adding only 0.4% of explained variance, and it was seen only for social support and peers.
Declared interests
The authors report nothing to report and declare no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that teaching emotional intelligence improves adolescents' health-related quality of life or buffers bullying. This was a cross-sectional self-report study of associations, not a tested intervention, and the moderation explained only an additional 0.4% of variance.