Emotional Intelligence as a Predictor of Adolescent Risk Behavior Participation and Perception

The current study aimed to investigate emotional intelligence as a predictor of adolescent risk participation and risk perception. While research has suggested that certain personality traits relate to adolescent risk behavior and perception, the extent to which emotional intelligence relates to risk behavior participation and perception is unknown. In addition, it is unknown to what extent emotional intelligence provides incremental validity over personality traits in the explanation of adolescent risk behavior participation and perception. The study included 171 students between the ages of 15 and 24 from Midwestern educational settings. Students reported risk behavior on the Adolescent Risk Behaviour Questionnaire. Emotional intelligence was measured using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, and personality traits were measured using the NEO-PI R. The results showed that the predictive validity of emotional intelligence differs in relation to age and the incremental validity of emotional intelligence over personality traits also differs across the age range. The relationship of emotional intelligence with risk behavior participation and risk perception revealed that despite higher levels of emotional intelligence and similar endorsement of risk perception, college-aged students reported higher levels of risk behavior participation. Implications for educational intervention and future study are discussed.