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Predicting risk of school refusal: Examining the incremental role of trait EI beyond personality and emotion regulation

Filippello Pina (University of Messina, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Italy)
Sorrenti Luana (University of Messina, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Italy)
Buzzai Caterina (University of Messina, Department of Cognitive Sciences, Psychological, Educational and Cultural Studies, Italy)
Costa Sebastiano (Nottingham Trent University, Department of Psychology, UK)

Research has not yet been deepened in the link between personality factors and risk of school refusal. Furthermore, previous studies fail to verify the direct relation between trait EI and the risk of school refusal. The present study examined personality traits, emotion regulation and trait EI for the contributory role they may play in predicting the risk of school refusal. The sample consisted of 311 participants, 112 males (36%) and 199 females (64%) with an average age of 14.19 (SD = .60), from a high school in the city of Messina (Sicily, Italy). Results show that the risk of school refusal is positively related to neuroticism and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies, while it is negatively related to the extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness and trait EI. Moreover, trait EI can be considered as a strong incremental negative predictor of risk of school refusal over and above personality traits and emotion regulation.

Keywords: school refusal, personality, emotion regulation, Trait Emotional Intelligence, adolescent students