Brief Emotional Intelligence Inventory for Senior Citizens (EQ-i-M20)

Abstract

Throughout the past decade, interest in the scientifi c study of emotion and its relationship with other aspects of human development has been growing (Bernars, Garaigordobil, & de las Cuevas, 2011;Zaccagnini, 2004).Emotion appears, along with cognition and motivation, as an indispensable element in human development and optimal performance (Bechara, Tranel, & Damasio, 2000), as well as health, especially in the later stages of the life cycle (Martins, Ramalho, & Morin, 2010).Emotions, far from the traditional conception, which was only concerned with their infl uence on pathological processes such as anxiety and depression (Crespo, 2006;Lloyd, Malek-Ahmadi, Barclay, & Fernndez, 2012), are a new fi eld of renewed study concentrating on the benefi ts they provide throughout the individual's life, and even conditioning the ability to adapt to different stages of the life cycle (Charles & Carstensen, 2007;Velasco, Fernndez, Pez, & Campos, 2006).Therefore, emotional stability is one of the variables present in aging (Cartensen, Pasupathi, Mayr, & Nesselroade, 2000).Studies have also shown changes in the emotional strategies used, making use of compensatory and selective mechanisms, the fruit of leaning and experience, which make the elderly more competent in emotional control (Scheibe & Carstensen, 2009;Bucks, Garner, Tarrant, Bradley, & Mogg, 2009), as well as maximization of positive over negative experiences, as already shown by Cartensen (1991) in his Socioemotional Selectivity Theory.This preference for positive experiences is related to changes in motivational goals associated with aging (Carstensen, 2006;Mather & Carstensen, 2005;Scheibe & Carstensen, 2010;Brassen, Gamer, & Bchel, 2011).Along this line, the idea of older people being more competent in resolving situations of emotional confl ict through the use of more fl exible, refl ective and more situationally adjusted responses than younger people is reaffi rmed (Coats & Blanchard-Fields, 2008).Furthermore, in recent years, studies have revealed the existence of a multitude of benefi ts to physical health (Carranque et al.,