A vast amount of research has documented an association between trait emotional intelligence (EI) and mental health. Several pathways could account for this relationship. First, it is possible that the association between trait El and mental health is merely an artefact of the methods and measures used (response bias pathway). Second, trait El may reduce the susceptibility to mental disorders via a succession of biological mechanisms (neuroendocrine pathway). Third, trait EI may reduce one's susceptibility to psychological disorders by minimizing mood alterations in difficult circumstances (affective pathway). This experimental study aims at documenting the third pathway. It presents three experimental studies investigating the moderating role of trait emotional intelligence (trait El) on mood deterioration following laboratory-induced stress. The incremental validity of trait El to predict mood changes over and above social desirability, alexithymia, resilience and the five-factor model of personality was also examined. Multiple regressions, performed on the three samples as well as on the combined sample (N = 196), showed that a) trait El significantly moderated the impact of the experimental stressor on subsequent mood deterioration, b) the effect held after controlling for social desirability and c) trait El had incremental validity to predict mood deterioration over and above the other predictors.
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