TRAIT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG OBESE PATIENTS AND NON-OBESE ADULTS

The construct of trait Emotional Intelligence (trait EI) takes into account the subjective aspects of human’s emotional experience, as it conceptualizes EI as a set of self-perceived emotional abilities. Although several studies have shown the importance of trait EI over individual’s health and wellbeing, there’s currently no literature studying its role in the context of eating disorders. Given the well-known association between obesity and emotional difficulties, this study attempts to provide new insights into the potential application of trait EI. A sample of 164 obese patients was recruited between May 2014 and June 2016. Each patient completed a set of self-report questionnaires including the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Binge Eating Scale. Independent assessments were performed at three time points (baseline, after three months, and after six months) at the S. Orsola Malpighi Hospital (Bologna). At each time point body weight and other medical were measured. A sample of normally-weighted adults was also recruited through an online software. Correlations, ANOVAs and mediation analysis were used as analytic strategies. Our results show differences in trait EI between case and control. Additionally, data show that trait EI has different functions over BMI depending on the predictor being considered. More detailed results will be presented at the conference. These results suggest once more the importance of emotional difficulties in obese patients and underline that trait EI may play an important role both as risk and as protective factor in the development of overweight and obesity.