Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQUE)

Abstract

The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQUE) is a comprehensive self-report measure designed to operationalize the construct of Trait Emotional Intelligence (Trait EI). Developed by K.V. Petrides and colleagues, Trait EI is conceptualized as a constellation of emotion-related self-perceptions and dispositions located at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. The TEIQUE provides a robust assessment across fifteen distinct facets, grouped into four primary factors, offering a detailed profile of an individual’s emotional self-efficacy and behavioral tendencies. It is widely utilized in psychological research, clinical assessment, and organizational psychology.

Keywords

Trait Emotional Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Personality, Self-report, Emotional Self-efficacy, Psychometrics.

Authors

K.V. Petrides, Adrian Furnham, Norah Frederickson.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the TEIQUE is to provide a standardized, psychometrically sound instrument for assessing the domain sampling of Trait EI. This construct is crucial because it helps distinguish between models of emotional intelligence that view it as a cognitive ability (e.g., MSCEIT) and those that view it as a personality trait. The scale aims to capture an individual’s typical behavioral patterns and self-beliefs regarding their emotional life, rather than their maximum emotional performance capabilities.

The scale is widely used in organizational, clinical, and educational settings to predict outcomes such as academic performance, job satisfaction, leadership potential, and mental health. By scoring the 15 facets and 4 factors, researchers can gain granular insight into specific areas of emotional strength and weakness.

Construct

The psychological construct measured is Trait Emotional Intelligence (Trait EI), defined as an individual’s self-perceptions concerning their emotional capabilities. Trait EI is situated within the realm of personality and is typically assessed via self-report. It differs theoretically from ability models of Emotional Intelligence, which measure maximal performance using objective tests.

The TEIQUE is structured hierarchically, culminating in a Global Trait EI score, which is composed of four main factors, which are themselves composed of 15 distinct facets:

• Well-being: Including self-esteem, trait happiness, and trait optimism.
• Self-control: Including impulse control, stress management, and emotion regulation.
• Emotionality: Including emotion perception (self and others), emotion expression, and relationships.
• Sociability: Including assertiveness, social awareness, and relationship management.

Validity

Extensive research supports the validity of the TEIQUE across numerous samples. Construct validity is consistently demonstrated through Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supporting the proposed 4-factor, 15-facet hierarchical structure. The measure shows strong discriminant validity, confirming that Trait EI, while related to general personality, is not redundant with major personality factors or cognitive ability (IQ).

Concurrent validity studies consistently show significant correlations between TEIQUE scores and established measures of personality (e.g., the Big Five), particularly high correlations with Neuroticism (negative) and Extraversion (positive). Predictive validity is evidenced by the scale’s ability to forecast crucial life outcomes, including academic success, physical health behaviors, and resilience against psychological distress, often showing incremental validity over standard personality measures.

Reliability

The TEIQUE exhibits excellent reliability across its various forms. Internal consistency is high, with Cronbach’s alpha coefficients typically ranging from 0.88 to 0.93 for the Global Trait EI score across diverse samples. The four primary factors also generally demonstrate high reliability, consistently scoring above 0.80.

Test-retest reliability, assessed over periods ranging from a few weeks to several months, confirms the stability of the trait construct. These coefficients usually exceed 0.80, confirming that the TEIQUE measures stable, enduring self-perceptions and dispositions rather than transient emotional states or situational fluctuations.

Factor Analysis

The hierarchical structure of the TEIQUE was established and validated using rigorous psychometric methods, primarily Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) followed by Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). These analyses consistently support the four-factor oblique model underlying the Global Trait EI factor.

The 4-factor structure (Well-being, Self-control, Emotionality, Sociability) provides an optimal balance between theoretical comprehensiveness and statistical parsimony. Further factor analyses have validated this structure across diverse cultural and linguistic groups, reinforcing the scale’s cross-cultural stability and applicability in international research.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report personality questionnaire.

Format: Likert scale (typically 7-point, ranging from 1=Completely Disagree to 7=Completely Agree).

Language Available: English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, and over 40 other translations are available.

Population Group: General population (Adolescents and Adults).

Age Group: Typically 14 years and older.

Population Details: Used extensively across clinical, academic, occupational, and general community samples globally. Multiple versions exist, including the TEIQUE Full Form (153 items), Short Form (30 items), and Ultra Short Form (15 items).

Test Methodology: Paper-and-pencil or online administration. Scoring yields 15 facet scores, 4 factor scores, and a Global Trait EI score. Scores are standardized against normative data.

Keywords

Psychological assessment, Personality measurement, Emotional regulation, Self-efficacy, Psychometrics, Trait EI.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not publicly available for general academic use; proprietary identifier required for licensing.

Affiliation Email addresses: Contact details are typically managed via the London Psychometric Laboratory.

Correspondence Address: London Psychometric Laboratory, University College London, UK.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The TEIQUE is a proprietary instrument managed by the London Psychometric Laboratory (LPL). Use requires formal licensing agreement with the copyright holders. Fees vary based on the version utilized (Full, SF, USF), the setting (academic/non-profit vs. commercial/consulting), and the volume of administrations. The primary development year for the original full form was 2001–2003, with continuous revisions and validation studies published thereafter.

Reference’s

• Petrides, K. V., & Furnham, A. (2003). Trait emotional intelligence: Behavioural validation in two studies of emotion recognition and reactivity to mood induction. European Journal of Personality, 17(5), 391–407.
• Petrides, K. V., Pita, R., & Kokkinaki, F. (2007). The Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue): Convergent, discriminant, and incremental validity. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(2), 277–289.
• Petrides, K. V. (2009). Technical manual for the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue). London: K. V. Petrides.

Items of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQUE)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

The source content provided for this entry explicitly states that the scale items have been removed based on a request from the publisher. Therefore, the proprietary items of the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQUE) cannot be listed here.