Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the possible individual differences in emotional intelligence (EI) among the groups of homosexual and heterosexual respondents. The study focused also on the replication of low correlation between ability EI and cognitive intelligence and trait EI.
Another purpose was to replicate that women score higher in EI compared to men. 184 individuals (out of whom 81 homosexuals) completed measures of ability (MSCEIT) and trait (SEIS) EI, and cognitive intelligence test (VMT). Significant differences in the EI mean scores were not discovered between homosexuals and heterosexuals.
Homosexuals, out of whom especially men, scored higher in emotion regulation. However, the two-way ANOVA discovered that the main effect for sexual orientation merely inclined the significance: F(1, 176) = 3,396, p = 0,067.
The low correlations between ability and trait EI (r = 0,28; p < 0,01) and between ability EI and cognitive intelligence (r = 0,15; p < 0,05) were replicated. Both ability and trait EI correlated with education and residence of participants.
Women scored higher than men in EI but the difference was not significant. The study is limited by the sample size, nonprobability sampling (snowball sampling) and age homogeneity of respondents.