Experiences of childhood emotional maltreatment and emotional intelligence in young men

Long-term cognitive-affective impairments could be a significant outcome of childhood maltreatment. According to trait models of emotional intelligence, experiential abilities (emotion perception and thought facilitation through emotion) are distinguished from strategic abilities (understanding and managing emotion). In a previous study including only women with adverse childhood experiences, childhood emotional neglect was found to be linked to a diminished capacity to understand own feelings in adulthood. In the current study, relationships between childhood maltreatment experiences and trait emotional intelligence in adulthood were investigated in a sample of men.

The sample comprised 97 young men maltreated during childhood. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was administered to identify a history of childhood trauma. The Self-Rated Emotional Intelligence Scale (SREIS) was used to assess trait emotional intelligence. Tests measuring verbal intelligence, cognitive flexibility, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms were also administered.

Emotional neglect showed a negative correlation with the SREIS subscale Managing emotion (self). No other CTQ scale was correlated with the SREIS. Depressive symptoms predicted poor emotion management. Regression analysis revealed that emotional neglect was a predictor of managing one's emotions independent of verbal intelligence, cognitive flexibility, trait anxiety, and depressive symptoms.

In men, experiences of emotional neglect during childhood but not of other maltreatment types seem to be associated with a diminished ability to manage one's emotions in adulthood. The present findings support the idea of a strategic emotional intelligence vulnerability following emotional neglect.