Emotional Intelligence Profiles among Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals (LGB) People: Their Influence on Mental Health, Life Satisfaction, Self-esteem and the Development of Sexual Identity

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies have focused recently on the negative impact of homophobia or biphobia, seeking to identify protective factors for the LGB (lesbian, gay, and bisexual) community. Methods: The present study aims to identify emotional intelligence (EI) profiles among a sample of 1215 LGB people in order to determine whether significant differences exist between them in terms of mental health, life satisfaction, self-esteem, and the development of sexual identity. To analyse the differential effect of EI on the variables, four cluster profiles were defined by combining the three dimensions of EI (attention, clarity, and repair). The first profile had low levels in all three dimensions; the second had high attention and low repair; the third had high general EI and the fourth had low attention and high repair. Results: Significant differences were observed among profiles (p < .001; η2 = 0.126). Those with high EI indexes reported less anxiety and depression and had better levels of self-esteem, life satisfaction and acceptance of their non-normative sexual identity. Those with low rates in all areas of EI or high levels of attention were at risk of developing psycho-emotional problems. Discussion: We can conclude that different EI profiles exist among LGB community and that these profiles influence mental health, life satisfaction and self-esteem outcomes and identity development in different ways. Policy Implications: The findings reported here have practical policy implications for psychoeducational proposals and interventions aimed at improving the experiences of LGB people, particularly in terms of promoting individual characteristics that can help them cope with systematic oppression, such as emotion repair.