The article by Calero, Barreyrom Formoso, and Injoque-Rice (2019) titled “Emotional intelligence and frequency of alcohol use and during adolescence” explores the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and the frequency of alcohol use among adolescents. According to the authors, EI is a mental construct comprising clarity of feelings, attention to feelings, and mood repair. Considering the role of emotional management in individual development, the problems represented by alcohol use during adolescence, and the importance of emotional management in earlier work on alcohol consumption, the purpose of the study was to examine the link between perceived emotional intelligence and frequency of alcohol use among adolescents. The research study does not a hypothesis or a research question.
The article cites previous research studies on emotional intelligence and alcohol use among adolescents. One of these studies is Salovey and Straus (2003), which found that participants reporting advanced levels of EI exhibit higher satisfaction with their group relations. A similar study by Alvarez and Sanchez (2003) showed that EI is positively associated with measures of well-being such as quality of life. A study by Fernández-Berrocal & Extremera Pacheco (20080 associated elevated levels of attention to feelings followed by low intelligibility of feelings and deprived mood repair. This implies that people who are emotionally unstable experience challenges understanding and regulating their emotional states. The relationship between perceived EI and psychological adjustment has also been shown by studies such as Jiménez & López-Zafra (2011). On difference EI between genders, the study cites a study by Lasa, Salguero, Fernández Berrocal, & Aritzeta (2010) showing that females have an elevated attention to feelings.
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The study recruited 339 high school students attending two private schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 263 of the participants while 136 were males with an average age of 15.14 years. 137 participants were juniors with an average age of 13.12 years, 139 had a mean age of 15.17, while 123 attended senior high school with an average age of 17.43 years. The students took part in the research study through the express consent of their parents who were guaranteed the confidentiality of the information given and the anonymity of the subjects.
The procedure of the study involved giving participants informed consent forms to be signed by their parents, which permitted them to take part in the study. Participants who were not permitted by their parents were excluded from the study. Additionally, the subjects were informed about the aim of the study and their confidentiality guaranteed. Self-repeated questionnaires were issued to the students personally in closed envelopes for the students to answer anonymously during class hours in the classroom to prevent interference from teachers. Three responses were removed from the data because of omitted observations.
Trait-meta mood scale, and a questionnaire on alcohol consumption and frequency were the two instruments used in the study. The trait-meta mood scales is a self-reported questionnaire that evaluates perceived EI using 21 items. The scale measures self-perception in association with the capacity to handle emotions and the stable traits of emotions. Additionally, the scale enables detection of how individuals react to emotions. The questionnaire on alcohol use and incidence assesses the frequency of alcohol use during the past 1 year and the frequency of an episodic overdose. Group comparison were carried out using Mann-Whitney tests while the predictive power of EI factors and age were evaluated using multiple linear regression.
The findings of the research study showed that subjects who reported elevated levels of attention to feelings were infrequent users of alcohol. Though some studies such as Riley and Schutte (2003) and Brackett et al., (2004) indicated a negative relationship between EI and alcohol use, the findings of the current study were in line with Jimenez et al., (2005). The findings showed that subjects with poorer self-perception were frequent alcohol users. The findings if the current study also differed to that of Ruiz-Aranda, Fernández-Berrocal, Cabello, and Extremera (2006), which showed that adolescents with elevated attention to feelings were frequent alcohol users. On the difference between the three age groups, younger adolescents were infrequent users of alcohol. No difference were noted in adolescents in their third year. Finally, differences between small and medium frequency users with elevated frequency alcohol users was noted. Finally, the researchers found that the frequency of alcohol use increase with age in both genders. Therefore, the findings of the study served the purpose of the study, which was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence and alcohol use among adolescents.
One strength of the study was the use of male and female subjects, which shows the role of EI in alcohol use among between genders. The use of a sample from two private schools was a major weakness because it does not make the findings representative. The findings of the current study can inform interventions to change alcohol consumption habits. By including an emotional construct when teaching adolescents, it is possible to create effective interventions for alcohol consumption. If I were to conduct a follow-up study, I would study the interference of cultural and contextual variables in alcohol consumption among adolescents.
References
Brackett, M. A., Mayer, J. D., & Warner, R. M. (2004). Emotional intelligence and its relation to everyday behaviour. Personality and Individual differences; 36 (6), 1387-1402.
Calero, D., Barreyo, J., Formoso, J., and Injoque-Rice, I. (2019). Emotional intelligence and frequency of alcohol use and during adolescence. Salud y drogas; 19 (1):60. DOI: 10.21134/haaj.v19i1.405.
Salovey, P., Stroud, L. R., Woolery, A., & Epel, E. S. (2002). Perceived emotional intelligence, stress reactivity, and symptom reports: Further explorations using the Trait Meta-Mood Scale. Psychology and Health, 17, 611-627.
