From Empathy to Resilience: The Mediating Role of Emotional Intelligence

Research has shown that empathy and emotional intelligence are two predictive factors associated with positive adaptation and resilience in emerging adulthood. However, it has not been well investigated how these two factors interact to link resilience. Based on previous research showing that empathy requires the development of emotional perceptiveness, that resilience is closely related to adaptive processes, and that emotional intelligence mediates the relation between emotional perceptiveness and adaptive processes, the present study hypothesized that emotional intelligence has a potential mediating role in the association between empathy and resilience. Data were collected from 788 college students (429 females and 359 males) at a university in China. Resilience was measured by the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC). Empathy was measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Emotional Intelligence was measured by the Emotional Intelligence Scale (EIS). The results showed that empathy significantly predicted resilience, and emotional intelligence fully mediated the association between empathy and resilience. These findings suggest that the cognitive ability to perceive, evaluate, and regulate emotions plays an important role in the resilience in emerging adults. Implications of cognitive approaches to resilience research in emerging adulthood are discussed.