UNDERSTANDING EMOTIONS IN ADOLESCENTS: LINKAGE OF TRAIT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WITH AGGRESSION

The objective of present study was to examine the relationship of trait emotional intelligence with aggression. After detailed literature review the following hypotheses were formulated; 1) There would be a negative correlation between Trait emotional intelligence and Physical Aggression, 2) There would be a negative correlation between Trait emotional intelligence and Verbal aggression, 3) There would be a negative correlation between Trait emotional intelligence and Anger, 4) There would be a negative correlation between Trait emotional intelligence and Hostility and 5) There would be a negative correlation between Trait emotional intelligence and Physical Aggression Total. The sample of present study consisted of 140 adolescent. The age range of entire sample was from 12 to 16 years (Mean age = 14.51, years, SD = .978). Among them 71 (50.7%) were male and 69 (49.3%) were female. Their education level was from 7th to 10th Grade. The sample was recruited from different private sector Secondary Schools of Karachi, Pakistan. Personal Information Form was used to take personal information of the participants.Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-Short Form (TEIQue-ASF; Petrides, Sangareau, Furnham, & Frederickson, 2006) and Aggression Questionnaire (AQ; Bryant & Smith, 2001) were administered to measure the emotional intelligence and aggression, respectively. Pearson’s product moment coefficient of correlation ‘r’ was applied to determine the relationship of trait emotional intelligence with physical aggression (r = -.203