Emotional intelligence and anxiety in university students: evidence of a curvilinear relationship

ABSTRACT Emotional intelligence, or the ability to perceive, interpret, and regulate emotions, has been linked to numerous adaptive outcomes. However, recent investigations have demonstrated that emotional intelligence can exert a nonlinear impact on motivational, interpersonal, and affective factors. Although past work has provided evidence of optimal levels of emotional intelligence, many studies have relied on statistical procedures that are prone to inferential errors when used to investigate curvilinear relationships. Thus, the current study was designed to test for the presence of a nonlinear association between emotional intelligence and generalized anxiety using an inferential method designed to detect curvilinear relationships between variables. University students (N = 345; 68.79% Caucasian, 86.99% female, X ̅Age = 26.11) completed the Brief Emotional Intelligence Scale and Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Using segmented regression analysis, we determined that the relationship between emotional intelligence and anxiety follows a nonlinear trend. Specifically, our results indicate that emotional intelligence is positively related to anxiety among those with ‘low’ and ‘high’ levels of emotional intelligence. Additionally, our findings revealed emotional intelligence and anxiety were negatively related among those with ‘moderate’ levels of emotional intelligence. We believe the current work has important implications for efforts designed to support university students’ emotional growth and academic success.