Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

Keynote webinar | Spotlight on medication adherence

LIVE: Thursday 27th June 2024, 18:00-19:30 (CEST)
Join our expert panel to discover why you need to understand the drivers of non-adherence in your patients, and how you can optimize medication adherence in your clinics to drastically improve patient outcomes.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Annals of Behavioral Medicine
Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine 6/2016

01-12-2016 | Original Article

Beyond Self-Report: Performance Measures of Emotional Competencies Predict Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety, Physical Symptoms, Self-Rated Health, and Immunoregulatory Molecules

Authors: Natalie L. Tuck, PGDipSci, Rosemary C. I. Grant, Amy Jackson, MSc, Anna E. S. Brooks, PhD, Nathan S. Consedine, PhD

Published in: Annals of Behavioral Medicine | Issue 6/2016

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Most work testing links between emotional competencies and health has focused on self-reported and/or trait assessments. However, more objective assessments of skills and knowledge may also predict health relevant outcomes.

Purpose

The current study investigated whether performance-based tests of emotional knowledge and expressive skill predicted symptoms of depression and anxiety, self-reported physical symptoms, perceived health, and a range of immunoregulatory molecules.

Methods

Eighty females aged 18–35 completed self-report assessments before attending a testing session in which they provided blood samples and completed performance-based assessments of expressive skill and emotional knowledge.

Results

Greater expressive skill predicted better self-reported outcomes, but links to immunoregulatory molecules were mixed. Expressive skill for contempt and anger predicted higher, whereas skill for happiness predicted lower, concentrations of immunoregulatory molecules.

Conclusions

These data highlight the need to extend research beyond self-reported emotional competencies and suggest that performance-based skill and knowledge metrics may be associated with health relevant outcomes.
Literature
1.
Mikolajczak M, Avalosse H, Vancorenland S, et al. A nationally representative study of emotional competence and health. Emotion. 2015; 15: 653-667.CrossRefPubMed
2.
Mikolajczak M, Petrides KV, Coumans N, Luminet O. The moderating effect of trait emotional intelligence on mood deterioration following laboratory-induced stress. Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2009; 9: 455-477.
3.
Haynes S, Feinleib M, Kannel WB. The relationship of psychosocial factors to coronary heart disease in the Framingham Study. III. Eight-year incidence of coronary heart disease. Am J Epidemiol. 1980; 111: 37-58.PubMed
4.
Denollet J, Pedersen SS, Vrints CJ, Conraads VM. Usefulness of type D personality in predicting five-year cardiac events above and beyond concurrent symptoms of stress in patients with coronary heart disease. Am J Cardiol. 2006; 97: 970-973.CrossRefPubMed
5.
Lumley MA. Alexithymia, emotional disclosure, and health: A program of research. J Pers. 2004; 72: 1271-1300.CrossRefPubMed
6.
Malatesta CZ, Jonas R, Izard CE. The relation between low facial expressivity during emotional arousal and somatic symptoms. Br J Med Psychol. 1987; 60: 169-180.CrossRefPubMed
7.
Davidson KW, Mostofsky E, Whang W. Don’t worry, be happy: Positive affect and reduced 10-year incident coronary heart disease: The Canadian Nova Scotia Health Survey. Eur Heart J. 2010: ehp603.
8.
Podsakoff PM, MacKenzie SB, Podsakoff NP. Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annu Rev Psychol. 2012; 63: 539-569.CrossRefPubMed
9.
Oster H, Ekman P. Facial behavior in child development. In: Collins WA, ed. Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, vol. 11. Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates; 1978: 231-276.
10.
11.
Keltner D, Ekman P. Facial expression of emotion. In: Lewis M, Haviland-Jones J, eds. Handbook of Emotions. New York: Guilford; 2000: 236-249.
12.
Consedine NS, Magai C, Bonanno GA. Moderators of the emotion inhibition-health relationship: A review and research agenda. Rev Gen Psychol. 2002; 6: 204-228.CrossRef
13.
Halberstadt AG, Denham SA, Dunsmore JC. Affective social competence. Soc Dev. 2001; 10: 79-119.CrossRef
14.
Field TM, Walden TA. Production and perception of facial expressions in infancy and early childhood. Adv Child Dev Behav. 1982; 16: 169-211.CrossRefPubMed
15.
16.
Bonanno GA, Papa A, Lalande K, Westphal M, Coifman K. The importance of being flexible: The ability to both enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychol Sci. 2004; 15: 482-487.CrossRefPubMed
17.
Custrini RJ, Feldman RS. Children’s social competence and nonverbal encoding and decoding of emotions. J Clin Child Psychol. 1989; 18: 336-342.CrossRef
18.
Zuckerman M, Przewuzman SJ. Decoding and encoding facial expressions in preschool-age children. Environ Psych Nonver. 1979; 3: 147-163.CrossRef
19.
Camras LA, Ribordy S, Hill J, Martino S, Spaccarelli S, Stefani R. Recognition and posing of emotional expressions by abused children and their mothers. Dev Psychol. 1988; 24: 776-781.CrossRef
20.
Gupta S, Bonanno GA. Complicated grief and deficits in emotional expressive flexibility. J Abnorm Psychol. 2011; 120: 635-643.CrossRefPubMed
21.
Gaebel W, Wölwer W. Facial expression and emotional face recognition in schizophrenia and depression. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 1992; 242: 46-52.CrossRefPubMed
22.
Trémeau F, Malaspina D, Duval F, et al. Facial expressiveness in patients with schizophrenia compared to depressed patients and nonpatient comparison subjects. Am J Psychiatry. 2005; 162: 92-101.CrossRefPubMed
23.
Davies H, Wolz I, Leppanen J, Fernandez-Aranda F, Schmidt U, Tchanturia K. Facial expression to emotional stimuli in non-psychotic disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016; 64: 252-271.CrossRefPubMed
24.
Schutte NS, Malouff JM, Thorsteinsson EB, Bhullar N, Rooke SE. A meta-analytic investigation of the relationship between emotional intelligence and health. Perspect Individ Differ. 2007; 42: 921-933.CrossRef
25.
Extremera N, Fernández-Berrocal P. Relation of perceived emotional intelligence and health-related quality of life of middle-aged women. Psychol Rep. 2002; 91: 47-59.CrossRefPubMed
26.
Goldman SL, Kraemer DT, Salovey P. Beliefs about mood moderate the relationship of stress to illness and symptom reporting. J Psychosom Res. 1996; 41: 115-128.CrossRefPubMed
27.
Tsaousis I, Nikolaou I. Exploring the relationship of emotional intelligence with physical and psychological health functioning. Stress Health. 2005; 21: 77-86.CrossRef
28.
Mikolajczak M, Roy E, Luminet O, Fillée C, de Timary P. The moderating impact of emotional intelligence on free cortisol responses to stress. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2007; 32: 1000-1012.CrossRefPubMed
29.
30.
Brackett MA, Mayer JD. Convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity of competing measures of emotional intelligence. Personal Soc Psychol Bull. 2003; 29: 1147-1158.CrossRef
31.
Mayer JD, Caruso DR, Salovey P. Emotional intelligence meets traditional standards for an intelligence. Intelligence. 1999; 27: 267-298.CrossRef
32.
Salguero JM, Extremera N, Fernández-Berrocal P. Emotional intelligence and depression: The moderator role of gender. Personal Individ Differ. 2012; 53: 29-32.CrossRef
33.
Jacobs M, Snow J, Geraci M, et al. Association between level of emotional intelligence and severity of anxiety in generalized social phobia. J Anxiety Disord. 2008; 22: 1487-1495.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
34.
Appleton AA, Buka S, Loucks E, Gilman S, Kubzansky L. Divergent associations of adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies with inflammation. Health Psychol. 2013; 32: 748-756.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
35.
Mauss IB, Levenson RW, McCarter L, Wilhelm FH, Gross JJ. The tie that binds? Coherence among emotion experience, behavior, and physiology. Emotion. 2005; 5: 175-190.CrossRefPubMed
36.
Glaser R, Robles TF, Sheridan J, Malarkey WB, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Mild depressive symptoms are associated with amplified and prolonged inflammatory responses after influenza virus vaccination in older adults. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2003; 60: 1009-1014.CrossRefPubMed
37.
Maes M, Ombelet W, De Jongh R, Kenis G, Bosmans E. The inflammatory response following delivery is amplified in women who previously suffered from major depression, suggesting that major depression is accompanied by a sensitization of the inflammatory response system. J Affect Disord. 2001; 63: 85-92.CrossRefPubMed
38.
Maier SF. Bi-directional immune–brain communication: Implications for understanding stress, pain, and cognition. Brain Behav Immun. 2003; 17: 69-85.CrossRefPubMed
39.
Demarble JB, Moskowitz D, Tardif J-C, D’Antono B. The relation between hostility and concurrent levels of inflammation is sex, age, and measure dependent. J Psychosom Res. 2014; 76: 384-393.CrossRef
40.
Ranjit N, Diez-Roux AV, Shea S, et al. Psychosocial factors and inflammation in the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Arch Intern Med. 2007; 167: 174-181.CrossRefPubMed
41.
Howren MB, Lamkin DM, Suls J. Associations of depression with C-reactive protein, IL-1, and IL-6: A meta-analysis. Psychosom Med. 2009; 71: 171-186.CrossRefPubMed
42.
Dowlati Y, Herrmann N, Swardfager W, et al. A meta-analysis of cytokines in major depression. Biol Psychiatry. 2010; 67: 446-457.CrossRefPubMed
43.
Mittwoch-Jaffe T, Shalit F, Srendi B, Yehuda S. Modification of cytokine secretion following mild emotional stimuli. Neuroreport. 1995; 6: 789-792.CrossRefPubMed
44.
Dickerson SS, Kemeny ME, Aziz N, Kim KH, Fahey JL. Immunological effects of induced shame and guilt. Psychosom Med. 2004; 66: 124-131.CrossRefPubMed
45.
Bruni R, Serino F, Galluzzo S, et al. Alexithymia and neuroendocrine‐immune response in patients with autoimmune diseases. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2006; 1069: 208-211.CrossRefPubMed
46.
Jett JR, Maksymiuk AW, Su JQ, et al. Phase III trial of recombinant interferon gamma in complete responders with small-cell lung cancer. J Clin Oncol. 1994; 12: 2321-2326.PubMed
47.
Connor TJ, Leonard BE. Depression, stress and immunological activation: The role of cytokines in depressive disorders. Life Sci. 1998; 62: 583-606.CrossRefPubMed
48.
Corcos M, Guilbaud O, Paterniti S, et al. Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: Preliminary findings. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2004; 29: 686-691.CrossRefPubMed
49.
Mössner R, Daniel S, Schmitt A, Albert D, Lesch K-P. Modulation of serotonin transporter function by interleukin-4. Life Sci. 2001; 68: 873-880.CrossRefPubMed
50.
Ikonomidis I, Stamatelopoulos K, Lekakis J, Vamvakou GD, Kremastinos DT. Inflammatory and non-invasive vascular markers: The multimarker approach for risk stratification in coronary artery disease. Atherosclerosis. 2008; 199: 3-11.CrossRefPubMed
51.
Danesh J, Wheeler JG, Hirschfield GM, et al. C-reactive protein and other circulating markers of inflammation in the prediction of coronary heart disease. N Engl J Med. 2004; 350: 1387-1397.CrossRefPubMed
52.
Koukkunen H, Penttilä K, Kemppainen A, et al. C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, interleukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-α in the prognostic classification of unstable angina pectoris. Ann Med. 2001; 33: 37-47.CrossRefPubMed
53.
Black PH, Garbutt LD. Stress, inflammation and cardiovascular disease. J Psychosom Res. 2002; 52: 1-23.CrossRefPubMed
54.
Glaser R, Kiecolt-Glaser JK. Stress-induced immune dysfunction: Implications for health. Nat Rev Immunol. 2005; 5: 243-251.CrossRefPubMed
55.
DeSteno D, Gross JJ, Kubzansky L. Affective science and health: The importance of emotion and emotion regulation. Health Psychol. 2013; 32: 474.CrossRefPubMed
56.
Jaremka LM, Fagundes CP, Peng J, et al. Loneliness promotes inflammation during acute stress. Psychol Sci. 2013; 24: 1089-1097.CrossRefPubMed
57.
Lane RD, McRae K, Reiman EM, Chen K, Ahern GL, Thayer JF. Neural correlates of heart rate variability during emotion. Neuroimage. 2009; 44: 213-222.CrossRefPubMed
58.
Thayer JF, Lane RD. A model of neurovisceral integration in emotion regulation and dysregulation. J Affect Disord. 2000; 61: 201-216.CrossRefPubMed
59.
Rohleder N, Schommer NC, Hellhammer DH, Engel R, Kirschbaum C. Sex differences in glucocorticoid sensitivity of proinflammatory cytokine production after psychosocial stress. Psychosom Med. 2001; 63: 966-972.CrossRefPubMed
60.
Ferrucci L, Corsi A, Lauretani F, et al. The origins of age-related proinflammatory state. Blood. 2005; 105: 2294-2299.CrossRefPubMed
61.
Hung J, Knuiman MW, Divitini ML, Davis T, Beilby JP. Prevalence and risk factor correlates of elevated C-reactive protein in an adult Australian population. Am J Cardiol. 2008; 101: 193-198.CrossRefPubMed
62.
Wörns M, Victor A, Galle P, Höhler T. Genetic and environmental contributions to plasma C-reactive protein and interleukin-6 levels—a study in twins. Genes Immunol. 2006; 7: 600-605.CrossRef
63.
Radloff LS. The CES-D scale: A self-report depression scale for research in the general population. Appl Psychol Meas. 1977; 1: 385-401.CrossRef
64.
Knight RG, Williams S, McGee R, Olaman S. Psychometric properties of the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) in a sample of women in middle life. Behav Res Ther. 1997; 35: 373-380.CrossRefPubMed
65.
Orme JG, Reis J, Herz EJ. Factorial and discriminant validity of the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression (CES‐D) scale. J Clin Psychol. 1986; 42: 28-33.CrossRefPubMed
66.
Santor DA, Zuroff DC, Ramsay J, Cervantes P, Palacios J. Examining scale discriminability in the BDI and CES-D as a function of depressive severity. Psychol Assess. 1995; 7: 131-139.CrossRef
67.
Boyd JH, Weissman MM, Thompson WD, Myers JK. Screening for depression in a community sample: Understanding the discrepancies between depression symptom and diagnostic scales. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1982; 39: 1195-1200.CrossRefPubMed
68.
Spielberger L. Preliminary manual for the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI). Tampa, 1986.
69.
Oei TP, Evans L, Crook GM. Utility and validity of the STAI with anxiety disorder patients. Br J Clin Psychol. 1990; 29: 429-432.CrossRefPubMed
70.
Wahler HJ. The Physical Symptoms Inventory: Measuring levels of somatic complaining behavior. J Clin Psychol. 1968; 24: 207-211.CrossRefPubMed
71.
Idler EL, Benyamini Y. Self-rated health and mortality: A review of twenty-seven community studies. J Health Soc Behav. 1997; 21–37.
72.
Mayer JD, Salovey P, Caruso DR. Mayer–Salovey–Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) User’s Manual. Toronto: MHS; 2002.
73.
Landy FJ. Some historical and scientific issues related to research on emotional intelligence. J Organ Behav. 2005; 26: 411-424.CrossRef
74.
Conte JM. A review and critique of emotional intelligence measures. J Organ Behav. 2005; 26: 433-440.CrossRef
75.
Mayer JD, Salovey P, Caruso DR. Emotional intelligence: Theory, findings, and implications. Psychol Inq. 2004; 15: 197-215.CrossRef
76.
McEnrue MP, Groves K. Choosing among tests of emotional intelligence: What is the evidence? Hum Resour Dev Q. 2006; 17: 9-42.CrossRef
77.
Day AL, Carroll SA. Using an ability-based measure of emotional intelligence to predict individual performance, group performance, and group citizenship behaviours. Personal Individ Differ. 2004; 36: 1443-1458.CrossRef
78.
Matthews G, Roberts RD, Zeidner M. Seven myths about emotional intelligence. Psychol Inq. 2004; 15: 179-196.CrossRef
79.
Hoaglin DC, Iglewicz B. Fine-tuning some resistant rules for outlier labeling. J Am Stat Assoc. 1987; 82: 1147-1149.CrossRef
80.
Wander K, Brindle E, O’Connor KA. C-reactive protein across the menstrual cycle. Am J Phys Anthropol. 2008; 136: 138-146.CrossRefPubMed
81.
Ross RM, Jackson AS. Exercise Concepts, Calculations, and Computer Applications. Carmel: Benchmark Press, Inc.; 1990.
82.
Jackson AS, Blair SN, Mahar MT, Wier LT, Ross RM, Stuteville JE. Prediction of functional aerobic capacity without exercise testing. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1990; 22: 863-870.CrossRefPubMed
83.
Blair R. Facial expressions, their communicatory functions and neuro-cognitive substrates. Philos T Roy Soc B. 2003; 358: 561-572.CrossRef
84.
Keltner D, Haidt J. Social functions of emotions at four levels of analysis. Cognit Emot. 1999; 13: 467-480.CrossRef
85.
Kroenke K, Spitzer RL, Williams JBW, et al. Physical symptoms in primary care: Predictors of psychiatric disorders and functional impairment. Arch Fam Med. 1994; 3: 774-779.CrossRefPubMed
86.
Frostholm L, Fink P, Christensen KS, et al. The patients’ illness perceptions and the use of primary health care. Psychosom Med. 2005; 67: 997-1005.CrossRefPubMed
87.
Baumeister RF, Vohs KD, Tice DM. The strength model of self-control. Curr Dir Psychol Sci. 2007; 16: 351-355.CrossRef
88.
Muraven M, Baumeister RF. Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychol Bull. 2000; 126: 247-259.CrossRefPubMed
89.
Kendall-Tackett K. Depression, hostility, posttraumatic stress disorder, and inflammation: The corrosive health effects of negative mental states. In: Kendall-Tackett K, ed. The Psychoneuroimmunology of Chronic Disease: Exploring the Links between Inflammation, Stress, and Illness. Washington DC: American Psychological Association; 2010.CrossRef
90.
Dickerson SS, Gruenewald TL, Kemeny ME. When the social self is threatened: Shame, physiology, and health. J Pers. 2004; 72: 1191-1216.CrossRefPubMed
91.
Rohleder N, Chen E, Wolf JM, Miller GE. The psychobiology of trait shame in young women: Extending the social self preservation theory. Health Psychol. 2008; 27: 523-532.CrossRefPubMed
92.
O’Connor M-F, Bower JE, Cho HJ, et al. To assess, to control, to exclude: Effects of biobehavioral factors on circulating inflammatory markers. Brain Behav Immun. 2009; 23: 887-897.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
93.
Ekman P, Rosenberg EL (eds). What the Face Reveals: Basic and Applied Studies of Spontaneous Expression Using the Facial Action Coding System (FACS): Oxford University Press, USA, 1997.
Metadata
Title
Beyond Self-Report: Performance Measures of Emotional Competencies Predict Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety, Physical Symptoms, Self-Rated Health, and Immunoregulatory Molecules
Authors
Natalie L. Tuck, PGDipSci
Rosemary C. I. Grant
Amy Jackson, MSc
Anna E. S. Brooks, PhD
Nathan S. Consedine, PhD
Publication date
01-12-2016
Publisher
Springer US
Published in
Annals of Behavioral Medicine / Issue 6/2016
Print ISSN: 0883-6612
Electronic ISSN: 1532-4796
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-016-9809-5

Other articles of this Issue 6/2016

Annals of Behavioral Medicine 6/2016 Go to the issue

Original Article

Sleep Quality Predicts Persistence of Parental Postpartum Depressive Symptoms and Transmission of Depressive Symptoms from Mothers to Fathers

Original Article

Parental History of Diabetes, Positive Affect, and Diabetes Risk in Adults: Findings from MIDUS

Original Article

Daily Interpersonal Experience Partially Explains the Association Between Social Rank and Physical Health

Original Article

The “ick” Factor Matters: Disgust Prospectively Predicts Avoidance in Chemotherapy Patients

Original Article

Perceived Housing Discrimination and Self-Reported Health: How Do Neighborhood Features Matter?

Original Article

Blood Pressure and Fibrinogen Responses to Mental Stress as Predictors of Incident Hypertension over an 8-Year Period