Emotional Intelligence, Empathy, Self-Esteem, and Life Satisfaction in Spanish Adolescents: Regression vs. QCA Models

Abstract

Adolescence is a complex period, in which the individual is subject to profound emotional, physical, and psychological changes. Healthy development during adolescence is crucial for future positive development; self-esteem and life satisfaction are fundamental. The importance of sociodemographic variables (sex and age), empathy, and emotional intelligence (EI) on self-esteem and life satisfaction was studied, comparing complementary methodologies, regression models, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) models. This is a cross-sectional design in a convenience sample of 991 adolescents (528 females, 53.3%; aged between 12 and 19 years; M = 14.01, SD = 1.40) from Spanish schools. Data were collected using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), the Basic Empathy Scale (BES), and Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS)24. The results of the regression models suggest that cognitive empathy, emotional clarity, and emotional repair are the main predictor variables for self-esteem. Meanwhile, the results of the fsQCA suggest that being older and low levels of cognitive empathy, emotional clarity, and emotional repair predict higher levels of self-esteem. On the other hand, life satisfaction in regression models is significantly predicted by the emotional clarity and emotional repair dimensions of the TMMS24 and self-esteem. Meanwhile, in the prediction of life satisfaction, the results of the fsQCA suggest that the most important interactions were high emotional clarity, emotional repair, and low self-esteem. As research has already shown, promoting empathy and EI leads to higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction.

Keywords: adolescent; emotional intelligence; empathy; life satisfaction; qualitative comparative analysis; regression models; self-esteem.