Children's emotional intelligence and aggressive behavior: The mediating roles of positive affect and negative affect

OBJECTIVE: Although previous studies have noted that emotional intelligence (EI) might be a significant protective factor for aggressive behavior, the specific mechanisms involved is largely unknown. Based on the General Aggressive Model, this cross-sectional study aims to investigate whether EI will influence aggressive behavior through the mediating roles of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA). METHODS: A total of 410 primary school students (45.4% females; M(age) = 10.35, SD = 0.48, range from 10 to 11 years) from Shenzhen, China, completed questionnaires on EI, aggressive behavior, PA, and NA. SPSS 22.0 was used for reliability test and correlation analysis, and (Hayes, 2013) [1] PROCESS macro (Model 6) was used to examine the multiple mediation model. RESULTS: The results show that (a) EI was negatively associated with children's aggressive behavior; (b) NA partially mediated the link between EI and aggressive behavior in children, and (c) PA and NA sequentially mediated the above link. CONCLUSION: This study would not only deepen our understanding of how EI is associated with aggressive behavior but also provide valuable suggestions for teachers and parents to more effectively prevent and intervene children's aggressive behavior.