Relationship between emotional intelligence and negative affect on suicide risk in young university students

Aim: The aim of this work is to analyze the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence, negative affect, satisfaction with life, and resilience on suicide risk in youth. Method: 144 college students of first year of Psychology with a mean age of 17.94 years (SD=.269) responded to a questionnaire containing demographic data and scales of perceived emotional intelligence; suicide risk, depression; anxiety; and life satisfaction. Results: 17 students (11.8%) had suicide risk and 8 (5.6%) had previously attempted suicide. A high risk of suicide was associated with lower levels of clarity and emotion regulation, resilience and life satisfaction, and high levels of anxiety and depression. Suicide risk significantly and positively correlated with negative affect (depression, anxiety) and negatively with the clarity and emotional regulation and life satisfaction. The regression analysis indicated that suicide risk was predicted by emotion regulation (17.2%), depression (14.9%) and life satisfaction (4%) accounting for 36.1% of its variance. Conclusions: It is necessary to design psychological interventions aimed at preventing or reducing suicidal ideation and suicide risk based on the results obtained, particularly regarding emotional intelligence (C) 2017 Sociedad Espanola para el Estudio de la Ansiedad y el Estres - SEAS. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.