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Received October 9, 2002; revised January 9, 2003; accepted January 31, 2003
Two hundred and fifty-nine gifted adolescents were assessed on their emotional intelligence and social coping strategies using the Emotional Intelligence Scale (N. S. Schutte et al., Personality and Individual Differences, 25, 167-177, 1998) and the Social Coping Questionnaire (M. A. Swiatek, Gifted Child Quaterly, 39, 154-161, 1995). An item factor analysis yielded four dimensions of emotional intelligence, leading to the construction of 4 empirical scales of emotional intelligence. Students scored most highly on Social Skills and Self-Management of Emotions, followed by Empathy, and Utilization of Emotions. In coping with their being gifted, students endorsed to different degrees their use of 6 coping strategies, which were Valuing Peer Acceptance, Involvement in Activities, Attempting Avoidance, Denying Oiftedness, Prizing Conformity, and Discounting Popularity. Social Skills emerged as the most important component of emotional intelligence predicting the use of strategies of Valuing Peer Acceptance and Involvement in Activities. Implications of the findings for enhancing emotional intelligence of adolescents in coping with problems arising from their being gifted and the need for further studies using longitudinal data are discussed.
KEY WORDS: emotional intelligence; coping; giftedness; Hong Kong.
Traditionally, the study of intelligence or human abilities has largely focused on cognitive abilities and their adaptive uses (e.g., Piaget, 1950; Wechsler, 1958). In recent years, more encompassing approaches to the study of intelligence have gradually gained widespread acceptance through the works of many theorists, including, among others, Gardner (1983,1999), and Sternberg (1988,1996). Along this line, it is believed that the notion of intelligence should be expanded to include not only cognitive abilities but also the experience and expression of emotions (e.g., Barrett and Gross, 2001; Ciarrochi et al., 2000; Mayer et ai, 1999).
Goleman (1995) popularized the notion of emotional intelligence first used by Salovey and Mayer (1990) who defined emotional intelligence as individuals' ability to monitor their own and others' feelings and emotions, to discriminate among emotions, and to use this information to guide thinking and action. Specifically, they conceptualized emotional intelligence as comprising 3 categories of adaptive abilities that include appraisal and expression of emotions in self and others, regulation of emotions in self and others, and utilization of emotions in solving problems through flexible planning, creative...