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Differences in How Trait Emotional Intelligence Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Affect Balance Versus Social Support in India and Germany

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Abstract

In this study, we assessed cross-cultural differences in the extent to which general emotional intelligence is linked to life satisfaction and analyzed mediators of this relationship. We used data from an individualistic culture (Germany) and a collectivistic culture (India) and had university students respond to self-report measures of life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, emotional intelligence, perceived social support, and independent and interdependent self-construals. In line with our hypotheses, we found that Indian students reported less subjective well-being and emotional intelligence than German students. Emotional intelligence was associated with life satisfaction to a higher degree in Germany than in India. In Germany, independent but not interdependent self-construal was related to emotional intelligence; in India, both independent and interdependent self-construals were significantly associated with emotional intelligence. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for our hypotheses regarding mediational models in that the effect of emotional intelligence on life satisfaction was fully mediated by affect balance in Germany and by perceived social support in India.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation postdoctoral fellowship awarded to Selda Koydemir.

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  1. Astrid Schütz

    Present address: University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany

  2. Arun Tipandjan

    Present address: International Centre for Psychological Counseling and Social Research, Puducherry, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Wilhelm-Raabe Str. 43, 09107, Chemnitz, Germany

    Selda Koydemir, Astrid Schütz & Arun Tipandjan

  2. Department of Psychology, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, Turkey

    Ömer Faruk Şimşek

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  1. Selda Koydemir
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  2. Ömer Faruk Şimşek
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Correspondence to Astrid Schütz.

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Koydemir, S., Şimşek, Ö.F., Schütz, A. et al. Differences in How Trait Emotional Intelligence Predicts Life Satisfaction: The Role of Affect Balance Versus Social Support in India and Germany. J Happiness Stud 14, 51–66 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-011-9315-1

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