A 4-month prospective study of the relationship between emotional intelligence and suicide ideation in Spanish adolescents: The mediating role of positive and negative affect

Abstract

This research examined the relationships among emotional intelligence, positive and negative affect, and suicide ideation between Spanish adolescents in a 4-month follow-up study. Adolescents (N = 1,174) from Southern Spain completed an emotional intelligence scale and, 4 months later, 818 of them completed scales measuring affect and suicide ideation. Mediation analyses revealed that both positive and negative affect were significant partial mediators of the prospective relationship between emotional intelligence and suicide ideation. Overall, our findings support the role of emotional intelligence in suicidal thoughts, suggesting that emotional intelligence may reduce suicide ideation in part through its effects on affectivity.

Additional information

Funding

This research has been supported and funded in part by research projects from University of Málaga and Junta de Andalucía/FEDER [UMA18-FEDERJA-147] and PAIDI Group [CTS-1048] (Junta de Andalucía). C.Q.-O. is supported by a “Juan de la Cierva-Formación” postdoctoral research fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities [FJC2019-038942-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033]. This work was also supported by the University of Málaga (S.M.-L.).