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Emotional Intelligence, Relationship Satisfaction, and the Moderating Effect of ADHD Symptomatology

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Abstract

The present cross-sectional study examined the extent to which ADHD symptomatology moderated the association between emotional intelligence (EI) and relationship satisfaction. A sample of 139 undergraduate students completed self-report measures of ADHD symptomatology, romantic relationship satisfaction, and EI. Hierarchical regression analysis found a significant interaction between emotional intelligence and ADHD symptomatology in their associations with relationship satisfaction while controlling for comorbid depressive symptoms. Simple slopes analyses revealed that EI was positively associated with relationship satisfaction among individuals with higher ADHD symptomatology, but not significantly associated among individuals with lower ADHD symptomatology. These results suggest that EI might play a particularly important role in the relationship quality of individuals with ADHD symptomatology and suggest an important topic for future research.

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Notes

  1. Three participants were excluded for not completing at least 75 % of the self-report measures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, 221D Austin Peay Building, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 1404 Circle Drive, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

    Brianna E. Pollock, Alexander Khaddouma, Jonathan P. Fillauer & Jennifer Bolden

  2. The Wright Institute, 2728, Durant Ave, Berkeley, CA, 94704, USA

    Kellen Huet-Cox

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  1. Brianna E. Pollock
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  2. Alexander Khaddouma
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  3. Kellen Huet-Cox
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  4. Jonathan P. Fillauer
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  5. Jennifer Bolden
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Correspondence to Brianna E. Pollock.

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Pollock, B.E., Khaddouma, A., Huet-Cox, K. et al. Emotional Intelligence, Relationship Satisfaction, and the Moderating Effect of ADHD Symptomatology. J Adult Dev 24, 15–21 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10804-016-9242-9

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