RT Journal Article
T1 Psychological distress among the unemployed: Do core self-evaluations and emotional intelligence help to minimize the psychological costs of unemployment?
A1 Peláez-Fernández, María Angeles
A1 Rey-Peña, Lourdes
A1 Extremera-Pacheco, Natalio
K1 Desempleo - Aspectos psicológicos
K1 Estrés (Psicología)
K1 Angustia
AB Background: Past research has shown that emotional intelligence (EI) and core self-evaluations (CSE) have aunique and independent role in the prediction of psychological maladjustment in the unemployed population.However, no one to date has examined the joint contribution of EI and CSE in predicting well-being and psychological distress among the unemployed. Our objective was to examine the main and interactive role of EI andCSE in the prediction of indicators for happiness, depression, stress, and anxiety beyond socio-demographicsvariables.Methods: A sample of 1796 unemployed participants completed a battery that included socio-demographic dataand questionnaires of EI, CSE, happiness, depression, stress, and anxiety. We processed the data with SPSS andHayes PROCESS macro.Results: Pearson correlation analyses showed significant associations between EI and CSE with different mentalhealth outcomes. Moderation analyses revealed that, beyond the main effects, the interactive term EI × CSEincreased the explained variance of the prediction of happiness, but not of depression, anxiety, or stress.Limitations: The study comprised an incidental non-clinical sample of unemployed adults, so the results mightnot generalize to a clinical population. Also, the study was cross-sectional, and we relied only on self-reportmeasures, which do not allow for establishing causal links and might include biases, such as social desirabilityand common method variance.Conclusions: These findings highlight the need for developing more comprehensive models including the interaction of EI and dispositional traits as contributing factors in the prediction of positive outcomes among theunemployed. Also, future promotion programs should include dimensions related to EI and CSE for increasingwell-being during unemployment
PB Elsevier
YR 2019
FD 2019-07-20
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/28519
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/28519
LA eng
NO Peláez-Fernández, M.A., Rey, L., & Extremera, N. (2019). Psychological distress among the unemployed: Do core self-evaluations and emotional intelligence help to minimize the psychological costs of unemployment?. Journal of Affective Disorders, 256, 627-632
NO Despite the limitations, our study provides promising empirical evidence for the interactive effects of EI and CSE in increasingwell-being during unemployment. In addition, if future researchers replicate these findings, such would shed light on promoting a positive psychology model of prevention, including positive self-regard and EI abilities, and this would be a promising way to promote positive mental health to help people better cope with hindrances, such as employment difficulties and other key stressors and challenges during unemployment
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026