TY - JOUR TI - The location of trait emotional intelligence in personality factor space AU - Petrides, K. V. AU - Pita, Ria AU - Kokkinaki, Flora JO - British Journal of Psychology PY - 2007 VL - 98 TODO - 2 SP - 273-289 PB - Wiley SN - 0007-1269, 2044-8295 TODO - 10.1348/000712606X120618 TODO - null TODO - The construct of trait emotional intelligence (trait El or trait emotional self-efficacy) provides a comprehensive operationalization of emotion-related self-perceptions and dispositions. In the first part of the present study (N = 274, 92 males), we performed two joint factor analyses to determine the location of trait El in Eysenckian and Big Five factor space. The results showed that trait El is a compound personality construct located at the lower levels of the two taxonomies. In the second part of the study, we performed six two-step hierarchical regressions to investigate the incremental validity of trait El in predicting, over and above the Giant Three and Big Five personality dimensions, six distinct criteria (life satisfaction, rumination, two adaptive and two maladaptive coping styles). Trait El incrementally predicted four criteria over the Giant Three and five criteria over the Big Five. The discussion addresses common questions about the operationalization of emotional intelligence as a personality trait. ER -