If you can regulate sadness, you can probably regulate shame: Associations between trait emotional intelligence, emotion regulation and coping efficiency across discrete emotions

The construct of trait emotional intelligence [trait EI] encompasses individual dispositions related to the perception, processing, regulation, and utilization of emotional information. These emotion-related dispositions are located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. Prior studies found that trait EI promoted the utilization of adaptive coping strategies to regulate stress. The present study examined (1) whether this effect would extend to other emotions and (2) whether the coping styles used to regulate a given emotion would mediate the effect of trait EI on the propensity to experience that particular emotion. Analyses revealed that trait EI promoted the choice of adaptive strategies not only in the case of stress, but also anger, sadness, fear, jealousy, and shame. Trait EI also promoted the use of adaptive strategies to maintain joy. We also found that high trait EI individuals’ choice of adaptive strategies to down-regulate various negative emotions and maintain positive ones explained their decreased propensity to experience these negative emotions and their increased propensity to experience positive ones.