Emotional intelligence and the different manifestations of bullying in children

Abstract

The main objective of this research was to help clarify the relationship between ability emotional intelligence (AEI) and bullying in children. Bullying is a maladaptive behaviour that generates severe adverse consequences in the school environment and is a matter of growing concern in the educational community. To investigate the relationship between AEI and bullying, we administered two tests to a sample of 329 students (52.9% girls) aged between 8 and 12 years old (Mage = 9.3; SD = 1.2). AEI was assessed using a test based on the interpretation of cinema scenes (EMOCINE). EMOCINE was designed to measure two of the primary factors considered in Mayer and Salovey’s ability model: emotional perception and emotional understanding. Furthermore, we administered a measure of bullying and school violence (AVE), which provides a global index of bullying, as well as a measure of its intensity, by considering eight scales or types of victimisation (harassment, intimidation, coercion, threats, social blocking, social exclusion, manipulation and aggression). The results show that age had a statistically significant effect on measures of bullying, while gender showed an interaction with victimisation types. A reduction in bullying behaviours was observed as the age of children increased, while gender-based analyses revealed different patterns in bullying behaviours. Regarding EI, it was observed that students with high AEI scores presented the lowest levels in both global bullying indexes and the victimisation types. Consequently, AEI seems to have important implications for bullying behaviours, and therefore, interventions aimed at the evaluation, training and development of AEI might offer the educational community the possibility of preventing or redirecting bullying situations.