From trait emotional intelligence to wellbeing and growth: the role of adaptive coping during hardship

Adolescence, a critical stage of development, requires robust emotional competences to manage psychological distress. This study examines how trait Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) relates to adolescent wellbeing and post-traumatic growth in an adverse sociopolitical context.

The study included 766 adolescents (417 female) aged 14-20 years (M = 16.34, SD = 1.18) from Lebanese public schools. Measures assessed trait EI through the profile of emotional competences (PEC), adaptive coping (Brief-COPE), wellbeing (WHO-5), and post-traumatic growth (PTGI-SF). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was performed with robust estimators.

The data supported the model, demonstrating a direct positive association between intrapersonal EI and adaptive coping (β = 0.48, p < 0.001) and interpersonal EI and adaptive coping (β = 0.34, p < 0.001), and between adaptive coping and both wellbeing (β = 0.47, p < 0.001) and post-traumatic growth (β = 0.73, p < 0.001). Adaptive coping showed significant indirect associations linking intrapersonal EI with wellbeing (β = 0.22, p < 0.001) and post-traumatic growth (β = 0.35, p < 0.001), as well as the association of interpersonal EI with wellbeing (β = 0.16, p < 0.001) and post-traumatic growth (β = 0.25, p = < 0.001).

Findings highlight that adaptive coping strategies (i.e., active coping, positive reframing, planning, and acceptance) are plausible coping-related pathways linking trait EI to wellbeing and post-traumatic growth, stressing the importance of integrating these positive psychological dispositions into wellbeing programs and interventions targeting adolescents facing adversity.