The relationship between personality disorder traits, emotional intelligence, and college adjustment

Abstract Objective The current study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, personality disorder traits, and college adjustment. Method A sample of 246 first‐semester, first‐time freshmen (73.6% female, age mean = 18.7, standard deviation = 2.0) at a large university in the Eastern United States completed the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (Petrides, 2009), the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality‐2 (Clark, Simms, Wu, & Casillas, 2014), and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (Baker & Siryk, 1998). Results As predicted, personality disorder symptoms and emotional intelligence were generally related, and both were related to adjustment. Unique patterns of association between traits reflecting personality disorder clusters and emotional intelligence deficits also emerged. Contrary to expectation, however, emotional intelligence did not moderate the relationship between personality disorders and adjustment. Conclusion The results suggest an alternative model implicating emotional intelligence as a mediator of the relationship between personality difficulties and college adjustment.