Impacts of emotion intelligence and gender on the process of emotion regulation

Objective To investigate the impacts of emotion intelligence and sex difference on the process of emotion regulation. Methods The reaction time and the strength of emotion regulation were recorded in the emotion perception and emotion regulation task. Results The males with higher EI scores reacted more quickly in emotion perception and were more efficient in positive emotion regulation than those with lower EI scores (reaction time: (1 821±120)ms 0.81±0.23; F(1, 87)=17.31, P (1 939±115)ms, F(1, 87)=6.73, P=0.011; strength of emotion regulation: 1.60±0.18 > 0.7±0.18; F(1, 87)=12.12, P=0.001). Conclusion The results showed that for men, the EI was associated with efficiency in processing emotion and regulating positive emotions, while for women, the EI was associated with efficiency in regulating negative emotions. Key words: Emotion intelligence; Gender difference; Emotion regulation