The Trait Meta-Mood Scale (TMMS; Salovey, Mayer, Goldman, Turvey, & Palfai, 1995) is a well-established measure of perceived emotional intelligence, an aspect of emotional intelligence that includes people's beliefs and attitudes about their own emotional experience. Although the TMMS has been widely used in adult populations, until now no data have been reported on its validity in the adolescent population. In the present work we analyzed the psychometric properties of the TMMS in a sample of 1,497 adolescents aged 12 to 17. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the 3-factor structure of the original scale (attention to feelings, clarity of feelings, and mood repair); moreover, these dimensions showed adequate reliability and correlated among themselves in the expected fashion. We also found evidence of discriminant validity with the Big Five personality factors and analyzed differences in the TMMS dimensions according to participants' age and sex. We discuss both the implications of these results and the utility of this scale in research on the emotional intelligence construct.

Primary school students suffer from high levels of anxiety and stress. Having emotional regulation abilities can help them to manage challenging emotional situations. Conscious and slow breathing is a physiological, emotional regulation strategy that is feasible for primary school students to learn. Following Polyvagal Theory and PMER Theory, this research presents the results of a breath-focused heart rate variability biofeedback intervention. The intervention aimed to reduce anxiety and physiological and social stress in primary school children. A total of 585 students (46.4% girls and 53.6% boys) from the same public school, aged between 7 and 12 years (M = 8.51; SD = 1.26), participated in this study. To assess the impact of training, a mixed design was used with two groups (Treatment and Control groups), two evaluation phases (Pretest and Post-test), and three educational cycles (first, second and third cycles). To examine heart rate variability, emWave software was used and anxiety and social stress were measured by the BASC II test. The results showed that after the intervention, the students learned to breathe consciously. Moreover, they reduced their levels of anxiety (M(SD)_pretest = 12.81(2.22) vs. M(SD)_posttest = 13.70(1.98)) and stress (M(SD)_pretest = 12.20(1.68) vs. M(SD)_posttest = 12.90(1.44)). The work also discusses the limitations and benefits of this type of intervention in primary schools.

Emotional intelligence and gender: beyond sex differences.

Many studies have demonstrated that interpersonally oriented leadership abilities such as being empathetic, supporting work relationships, or explicitly stating an interest in helping others are particularly relevant in crisis contexts. Since these leadership abilities coincide with stereotypically feminine roles and traits, it has been proposed that a “think crisis–think female” association may exist (Ryan, Haslam, Hersby, & Bongiorno, 2011). In a field study (N = 301 workers and managers) we examined this association and identified two relevant factors that may hinder the acceptance of female leaders and stereotypically feminine characteristics in crisis management: instrumental (male) leadership role models and sexist attitudes. In doing so, we provide new insights into the “think crisis–think female” relationship and illustrate the potential implications of this occurrence for gender studies and for research into work and organizational psychology.