Can trait Emotional Intelligence and objective measures of emotional ability predict psychopathology across the transition to secondary school?

Evidence suggests that Emotional Intelligence (EI) is related to psychopathology when measured concurrently, however, little is known about the predictive validity of this finding. To address this issue a prospective longitudinal study was conducted across the transition from primary to secondary school. A sample of 274 children completed two measures of trait EI, three objective measures of emotional ability, and the Beck Youth Inventories both before and after the school transition. At time 1 and 2 both trait EI measures were associated with measures of psychopathology whilst none of the objective measures of emotional ability were related to psychopathology. The associations between trait EI and psychopathology persisted across the transition period whichever the direction of measurement. Hierarchical regressions found that baseline measures of trait EI initially predicted follow-up psychopathology having already taken demographic variables into account but failed to do so once the specific baseline psychopathology scores were taken into consideration. Supplementary regression analyses found that baseline self-concept predicted follow-up trait EI even after demographic variables, and baseline psychopathology and trait EI had been taken into account. These findings suggest that EI is not a good predictor of psychopathology prospectively and that measurement issues surrounding trait EI warrant further investigation.