Problem gambling in adolescence: Relationships with internet misuse, gaming abuse and emotional intelligence

Examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and several addiction-related behaviors (gambling, internet use, and video game playing) in two community-based samples of adolescents: 13–15 year olds (N = 209) and 16–18 year olds (N = 458). EI was measured using the youth version of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:YV; Bar-On & Parker, 2000), while the addiction-related behaviors were assessed using the Internet Addiction Questionnaire (IADQ; Young, 1998), the Problem Video Game Playing Scale (PVGS; Salguero & Moran, 2002), and the South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised for Adolescents (SOGS-RA; Winters, Stinchfield, & Fulkerson, 1993). EI was found to be a moderate to strong predictor of addiction-related behaviors in both groups (parameter estimates were −.76 for the younger adolescents and −.56 for the older adolescents).