Mental health and EQ profiling of emotional/behavioral disordersDate of publication: 08/07/2007 This section is still being developed but will eventually contain complete summaries of studies that have studied mental health and conducted EQ profiling of emotional/behavioral disorders based on the Bar-On conceptual and psychometric model of emotional-social intelligence. In the meantime, I have summarized the key studies that I am aware of. Should you wish to share findings from a study that you have conducted or have detailed information on studies that others have conducted focusing on this topic, please use the template provided above for summarizing this study and email it to us (info@reuvenbaron.org). You are invited to provide results that confirm or refute these findings and help us understand this area better. In one of the first studies that examined the relationship between emotional-social intelligence and psychological health, the EQ-i scores of 418 psychiatric patients were compared with matched control groups in Argentina, Israel, South Africa and the United States [Bar-On, 1997b]. In addition to significant differences in overall emotional-social intelligence, the EQ-i scores revealed significant differences on most of the scales between the clinical samples and control groups.
In a more recent study, which included a sample of 2,514 males who completed the EQ-i at the time of their induction into the Israeli Defense Forces, I identified 152 recruits who were eventually discharged for psychiatric reasons [Bar-On, 2003]. I then randomly selected an additional group of 152 among 241 who were diagnosed with less severe psychiatric disturbances that allowed them to continue their tour of duty with relatively few limitations. The EQ-i scores of these two groups were compared with a randomly selected group of 152 recruits within the same population sample (n=2,514) who did not receive a psychiatric profile during the entire period of their military service. This created three groups representing three different levels of psychological health: (a) individuals who were so severely disturbed that they were incapable of serving a full tour of duty, (b) individuals who received less severe psychiatric profiles which allowed them to continue active military service until completion, and (c) individuals who completed their military service without having received a psychiatric profile. A multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the degree of impact of emotional-social intelligence on psychological health; the results revealed a moderate yet significant relationship between the two (.39).
The findings from these studies suggest that the most powerful EI competencies, skills and facilitators that impact psychological health are (a) the ability to manage emotions and cope with stress, (b) the drive to accomplish personal goals in order to actualize one’s inner potential and lead a more meaningful life, and (c) the ability to verify feelings and thinking. This particular constellation of findings makes sense, because deficiencies in these specific competencies may lead to anxiety (an inability to adequately manage emotions), depression (an inability to accomplish personal goals and lead a more meaningful life) and problems related to reality testing (an inability to adequately verify feelings and thinking) respectively. It is also compelling that such deficiencies, in one form or another, are pathognomic for most psychiatric disturbances [American Psychiatric Association, 1994]; and if not directly pathogenic, they are most likely significant contributors to these disturbances. Moreover, tranquilizers, anti-depressants and neuroleptics (anti-psychotics) represent three of the four major classifications of psychotropic drugs that have been traditionally administered for treating these specific disturbances [Kaplan & Sadock, 1991].
The findings presented here compare quite favorably with other EI measures. For example, the MSCEIT has demonstrated correlations with measures of anxiety and depression ranging from .25 to .33 [Brackett & Salovey, 2004]. However, it is not clear if actual clinical samples have been studied with this instrument.
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