James D A Parker

• Ph.D.
• Professor (Full) at Trent University

Although previous research has found trait emotional intelligence (TEI) to be a moderate predictor of bullying behaviors in adolescents, this work has limited generalizability. The current study is the first to use a multidimensional approach to both TEI and bullying behaviors when looking at their relationship in high school students. The study em...

في أحداث الحياة اليومية والمواقف المختلفة المعاشة، سواء كان ذلك في العمل أو في الحياة الشخصية والاجتماعية ، نعيش معارف ومشاعر وتصدر منا ونلاحظ سلوكيات، ومواقفنا المعاشة المختلفة إما أن ندرك ونميز فيها بشكل سليم ودقيق الانفعالات والمشاعر ، وإما إننا نعاني صعوبة في الإدراك والتعرف والتحديد، وفي حال معاناتنا صعوبات في الإدراك والتعرف والتمييز للانفعال...

Introduction: The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) is the most widely used instrument to assess alexithymia and has recently been translated into Urdu. There are several shortcomings with this translation (e.g., removal of four items from the original instrument, grammatical errors, poor/complex item translation) that compromise the assessment of...

Objective To expand on current adult ADHD literature by investigating the stability of ADHD symptomatology (i.e., inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity) across a 15-year period (from emerging adulthood to early middle adulthood) and the relative contributions of ADHD symptomatology to life success. Method A sample of 320 post-secondary student...

Review of Emotional Intelligence assessment, literature and theory in relation to clinical practices.

Objective To improve on several methodological issues regarding current literature investigating the relationship between ADHD symptomatology and academic success in adults and examine the relative contributions of specific dimensions of ADHD symptomatology (i.e., inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity) to post-secondary academic success. Met...

The relationship between Emotional Intelligence (EI) and numerous positive outcomes has sparked considerable interest from educators and researchers in training and promoting various emotional and social competencies in youth. The present study evaluated the effectiveness of a new school-based program for elementary school students designed to deve...

The 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) is the most widely used measure to assess the personality construct of alexithymia and is composed of three-factor analytically derived subscales. These subscales measure and represent three critical, theoretically based facets of alexithymia. The subscales are distinct, yet highly interrelated and onl...

Purpose of Review Emotional intelligence (EI) is widely regarded as an important predictor of a diverse set of health and life success outcomes. There is growing evidence to demonstrate the role that EI plays in the development of both substance use and behavioral addictions. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the still limited, b...

Objective: The alexithymia personality construct encompasses difficulties identifying and describing feelings, restricted imaginal processes, and an externally oriented cognitive style. The construct was derived initially from observations of patients with classic psychosomatic diseases. The self-report 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) is...

Background: As emotional and social competency training proliferates within a work readiness context, concerns remain regarding their efficacy. Data on these programs tends to be scarce and outcome objectives are often poorly defined. Objective: Authors developed and tested a work readiness emotional and social competency program specifically de...

The concept of coping has a long history in which it evolved originally from Freud's theory of defense mechanisms. Although the coping and defense mechanism literature utilizes similar measurement strategies (e.g. self‐report tools and observer ratings) and sought to predict similar life‐success and wellness outcome variables, the two areas have gr...

Investigated the relationship between the General Factor of Personality (GFP) and criminal behavior using a large community sample (N = 4121). Due to the longitudinal nature of the data, hypotheses regarding the GFP and past crime versus current crime (i.e., crime reported during the 5 years of the study) could be examined. Further, criminal behavi...

The concept of coping has a long history in which it evolved originally from Freud's theory of defense mechanisms. Although the coping and defense mechanism literature utilizes similar measurement strategies (e.g. self‐report tools and observer ratings) and sought to predict similar life‐success and wellness outcome variables, the two areas have gr...

Although it is widely held that emotional intelligence (EI) contributes to more satisfying interpersonal relationships, the question has been investigated almost exclusively using cross-sectional designs. In fact, the use of longitudinal designs is rare in the EI area. While prior research has found that better perception, understanding, and managi...

Objective: Twenty-five years ago, this journal published two articles reporting the development and initial validation of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). Since then the literature on alexithymia has burgeoned with the vast majority of this research using the TAS-20, including multiple language translations of the scale. Method: I...

Trait Emotional Intelligence (EI)-related competencies are in growing demand in educational and vocational settings. The present study assesses the developmental dynamics of trait EI in emerging adulthood by capitalizing on the inclusion of a measure of trait EI in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) called the Emotional...

Trait Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a constellation of emotional self-perceptions and dispositions related to perceiving, understanding, using, and managing emotions of self and others. Although higher trait EI has been implicated in post-secondary success among university students. There is lack of evidence for whether it predicts the pursuit of...

Alexithymia is a clinically relevant personality construct characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings, externally oriented thinking, and impoverished imaginal processes. Previous taxometric investigations provided evidence that alexithymia is best conceptualized as a continuous dimension rather than a discrete type, at least...

The transition from high school to a post-secondary setting is a stressful period for most individuals, and difficulties with social and emotional adjustment are strong predictors of student dropout and underachievement. In this context, emotional intelligence (EI) has been studied as a possible explanatory variable for a range of post-secondary ad...

Education is one of the largest applied areas for the construct of emotional intelligence (EI). The emphasis on social-emotional learning (SEL) is rapidly growing at all levels of the education delivery system, from preschool and secondary school curricula to post-secondary, professional, and continuing education programs. The book Emotional Intell...

This book highlights current knowledge, best practices, new opportunities, and difficult challenges associated with promoting emotional intelligence (EI) and social-emotional learning (SEL) in educational settings. The volume provides analyses of contemporary EI theories and measurement tools, common principles and barriers in effective EI and SEL...

It is claimed that emotional competency is crucial to children’s scholastic success, and for creating healthy academic environments. The implementation of interventions to help children build emotional competency are, thus, important. But, how do we ensure that the interventions we design and deliver promote individual change? Following the princip...

The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) is a 20-itemself-report scale assessingemotional and social competency impairments like difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF) and externally-oriented thinking (EOT). Despite strong validity and predictive utility in North American and European samples, its validity in Non-...

The current study investigated longitudinal relationships between socioemotional competencies and post-secondary pursuit in a large (approx. N = 1,400) nationally representative sample of Canadian young adults who participated in the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth conducted by Statistics Canada. Participants (age 20-21 years) co...

This presentation reports on preliminary findings of the Trent Academic Success and Wellness Project (TASWP). This longitudinal study, begun at Trent University (Ontario, Canada) in 2000, administered a measure of emotional intelligence (EQ-i:Short) to four consecutive cohorts of 1st-year undergraduate students at the start of their academic studie...

Much of the work on predicting academic success in postsecondary education has focused on the impact of various cognitive abilities, although in recent years there has been increased attention to the role played by emotional and social competency (also called emotional intelligence (EI)). Previous work on the link between EI and giftedness is revie...

Emotional intelligence (EI) has emerged as an important construct in research on positive youth development, linked to successful adaptation, social integration, and wellbeing. Given the scope of these outcomes, many schools and community agencies have begun incor- porating EI-based interventions into programs aimed at enhancing youths’ socioemotio...

The recent proposal of a new type of agnosia termed ‘affective agnosia’ extends Freud’s legacy and captures the concept of not knowing one’s own emotions. This concept links well with the theory of levels of emotional awareness and maps onto a hierarchical model of neural substrates of emotional experience, but does not encompass the pensée opérato...

The present study examined the link between problematic gambling and gambling related cognitions (GRCs) in a large sample of adolescents with (N = 266) and without (N = 1,738) special education needs (SEN) between the ages of 14 and 18 years attending several high schools in eastern central Ontario. The adolescents with SENs were identified as havi...

The present study examined the association between trait emotional intelligence (TEI) and ADHD symptomatology in samples of 1388 adolescents (ages 14–17 years) and 3313 young adults (ages 18–24 years). Consistent with the notion that difficulties in emotion processing and affect regulation are important features of ADHD, TEI was found to be a moder...

This study examined the relationship between bullying behaviour and emotional intelligence (EI) in Canadian high-school adolescents (N = 1694). EI was measured using the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (EQi:YV; Bar-on & Parker, 2000) while bullying and/or victimization was assessed using an adaptation of the Bully/Victim Inventory (Olwe...

The inclusion of several trait-EI variables in the last four cycles of the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth (NLSCY) presents a unique opportunity to test the role of temperament and parenting practices in the development of trait EI. The stratified population survey of over 22,000 Canadian children has been followed by St...

The present study examined pragmatic language and executive functions (EF) as predictors of peer victimization in three groups: high-functioning adolescent boys with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) (n = 30); typically developing adolescent boys (n = 40); and adolescent boys (n = 22) without ASD with special education needs (SN). Controlling for a...

Amid the growing efforts to promote positive youth development, trait emotional intelligence (TEI) has emerged as an important protective factor in the processes of resilience and adaptation. The inclusion of a brief form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory-Youth Version (EQi:YV-Brief) in the Canadian National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Yo...

The study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence (EI) and several addiction-related behaviours (gambling problems, Internet abuse, and computer gaming misuse) in two adolescent samples: 270 clinical outpatients (180 males and 90 females) and 256 special needs students (160 males and 96 females). Gambling problems, Internet abuse,...

Being victimized by one's peers is a major problem in adolescence, and research has suggested that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may experience higher rates of bullying than their typically-developing (TD) peers. However, it is currently unclear whether adolescents with ASD are victimized more by their peers simply because they a...

The obsessive-compulsive behaviors central to Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) are not uncommon in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), however the association between these disorders is not yet clear. One construct which may be useful in delineating their overlapping characteristics is “Incompleteness” or a sense of things feeling “not just right”....

The present study examined the factor structure of the Gambling Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS); (Raylu and Oei in Addiction 99:757-769, 2004) in a large sample of adolescents (N = 1,490) between the ages of 16 and 18 years (630 males, 860 females) attending several high schools in central Ontario. Problem gambling was measured using the DSM-IV-J (...

Studied the development and validity of the Portuguese version of the Toronto Alexithymia Scale in 133 adults (general population sample) and 298 university students (aged 18-62 yrs) in Portugal. Data on sociodemographic variables and clinical and psychological symptoms were obtained by questionnaire. Factorial analysis and other statistical tests...

This study explored the utility of trait emotional intelligence (EI) for predicting students' university graduation outcomes six years after enrolment in university. At the start of the program, 1,015 newly registered students completed a brief multidimensional self-report EI assessment and provided consent to track their subsequent degree progress...

The present study examined the prevalence of disordered gambling behaviours in a community-based sample of adolescents (N = 532) living in eastern central Ontario. Of particular interest was examining the hypothesis that adolescents with learning disorders are at elevated risk for disordered gambling. Rates of disordered gambling in male adolescent...

Although several brief instruments are available for the emotional intelligence (EI) construct, their conceptual coverage tends to be quite limited. One notable exception is the short form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:S), which measures multiple EI dimensions in addition to a global EI index. Despite the unique advantage offered by the...

The Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) is a self-report scale developed as a screener for Autism Spectrum Disorders and also to measure autistic traits found in the general population. Research has examined its factor structure, resulting in several different measurement models. The current study empirically tested previous models of the AQ using confir...

This study examined the associations between clinical anxiety, domains of emotional intelligence (EI), and three clinician-rated indices of maladjustment. Of key interest was whether social phobia (SP) is unique among anxiety disorders in being characterized by lower levels of Interpersonal and, particularly, Intrapersonal EI, and whether these dif...

The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20; Bagby, Parker, & Taylor, 1994; Bagby, Taylor, & Parker, 1994) is the most widely used self-report measure of the alexithymia construct. The TAS-20 comprises 3 factors that assess difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking. Although the instrument i...

Results from a recent taxometric investigation of the alexithymia construct, measured by the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), with English-speaking samples in Canada provided evidence that alexithymia is best conceptualized as a dimensional rather than a categorical construct. The aim of the current investigation was to attempt to genera...

The objective of this study was to examine, by gender, whether emotional intelligence (EI), peer social support, and/or family social support partially mediated the influence of verbal IQ on Grade 10 Grade Point Average (GPA) for 192 (96 males, 96 females) students. For males, EI and peer social support predicted GPA and EI mediated the association...

The present study examined the relationship between alexithymia and satisfaction in intimate relationships. One hundred and fifty-eight undergraduate students taking a first year psychology course completed the 20-item Toronto alexithymia scale (TAS-20) and two measures of relationship satisfaction: overall satisfaction with the relationship and se...

Managing human emotions plays a critical role in everyday functioning. After years of lively debate on the significance and validity of its construct, emotional intelligence (EI) has generated a robust body of theories, research studies, and measures. Assessing Emotional Intelligence: Theory, Research, and Applications strengthens this theoretical...

Since the emergence of the emotional intelligence (EI) construct two decades ago (Salovey & Mayer, 1990) a variety of theoretical models and measures have appeared. Conceptual models of EI can typically be organized into one of two complementary types: ability models or trait models (Petrides & Furnham, 2001). The former approach views EI as a set...

It is more crucial today than ever before that students are academically prepared to compete for knowledge and technology-based jobs. For students who are not adequately prepared, the economic and social costs can be extremely high. Early withdrawal from secondary school, for example, has been linked with higher levels of unemployment, lower earnin...

Biomedical advances of the past century have changed the patterns of illness in industrialized countries dramatically. No longer are infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, cholera, rubella, and smallpox major contributors to population mortality. Rather, the leading causes of morbidity and death today are related to chronic stress and unhealthy...

Interest in Emotional Intelligence can, in part, be gauged by the amount of research activity it has stimulated since first making an appearance in the psychological literature about 20 years ago. To set the scene for the chapters that follow in this book we analyzed the number of theory, research, and application papers that have been published on...

Despite a wealth of research on the validity of alexithymia and its association with a number of common medical and psychiatric disorders, the fundamental question of whether alexithymia is best conceptualized as a dimensional or categorical construct remains unresolved. In the current investigation, taxometric analysis is used to examine the natur...

The present study examined the relationship between alexithymia and self-reported sleep problems and the influence of sleep hygiene on sleep problems. The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Sleep Problems Inventory were administered to a non-clinical sample of 2045 young adults. Alexithymic individuals (N = 228) scored significantly higher t...

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 &...

Gignac, Palmer, and Stough (2007/this issue) test a number of different latent factor models for the TAS-20 using a community sample of 355 participants and conclude that this scale is best represented by a "nested factors model," with five substantive factors and a method factor. Gignac et al. also report that the correlated three-factor model and...

Examined the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic retention. Participants were selected from a sample of 1270 young adults (368 men and 902 women) making the transition from high-school to university. Participants were recruited during the first week of classes in their first year at the university and completed a measure of emo...

Two issues regarding academic and intellectually gifted children are debated to this day. The first concerns the social-emotional competency of gifted children and the second focuses on the question of what is the most appropriate educational setting to support the academic and personal development of these children. Self, teacher and parent rating...

There has been no published investigation made of the relationship between social anxiety and emotional intelligence (EI), or of their shared impact upon interpersonal adjustment. This study examined these questions using structural equation modeling with self-report data from a large nonclinical sample (N = 2629). EI was found to be highly related...

Assessments of personality constructs increasingly use self-report and structured interview instruments, which allow for a multimethod measurement approach and decrease specific measurement method bias. The aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable structured interview for assessing the alexithymia construct. Sixty interview questions w...

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has attracted growing interest from researchers working in various fields. Because culture can influence the experience and expression of emotions, special care needs to be taken when using the EI construct in different cultures. The present study examined the generalizability of the youth form of a widely...

The short form of the Conners-Wells Adolescent Self-Report Scale (CASS:Short) is administered to 319 children and 844 adolescents to investigate whether the instrument can be used with respondents under the age of 12. Mothers of all respondents are asked to rate each child using a measure designed to assess a parallel set of problem behaviors. The...

The present study used the major life transition of going off to university as the context for examining the relationship between alexithymia and academic achievement. During the first month of post-secondary classes 707 first-year full-time students completed the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20). At the end of the academic year alexithym...

The generalizability of the alexithymia construct to North American aboriginal culture was examined by assessing the replicability of the factor structure of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in two different adult samples. The study also assessed the reliability of the scale and the influence of gender, age, and education on alexithym...

Pathological gambling is more prevalent among postsecondary students than among the general adult population. While the prevalence of pathological gambling in this group has risen over the past decade, factors underlying the development of problem gambling among university students remain largely unexplored. One early study found alexithymia to be...

The concept of emotional intelligence (EI) has attracted growing interest from researchers working in various fields. The present study examined the long-term stability (32 months) of EI-related abilities over the course of a major life transition (the transition from high school to university). During the first week of full-time study, a large gro...

The purpose of the Ontario Principals' Council (OPC) leadership study (funded by the Ministry of Education and Training) was to explore the relationship between emotional intelligence and school leadership. Specifically, this project sought to identify key emotional and social competencies required by school administrators (principals and vice-prin...

This chapter examines the relevance of the emotional intelligence (EI) construct for clinical psychology. Although virtually no direct clinical research yet exists using the EI construct, several related constructs have generated a large clinical literature. Of particular relevance is the alexithymia construct. Although initially linked with indivi...

This study examined the impact of emotional intelligence (EI) on the successful transition from high school to university. The short form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i) was completed by 1,426 first-year students attending four different universities within the first week of classes (September).

The relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement in high school was examined. Students (N=667) attending a high school in Huntsville, Alabama completed the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:YV). At the end of the academic year the EQ-i:YV data was matched with students’ academic records for the year. When EQ-i:YV variables...

This study examined the relationship between ADHD symptoms and basic personality in a large sample of adults (122 men and 465 women). Participants completed the DSM-IV ADHD Scales from the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS) as well as the NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Collectively, the five scales on the NEO-FFI accounted for substantia...

Este artículo examina la relevancia del constructo de inteligencia emocional (IE) para la psicología clínica. Aunque exista poca investigación directa sobre el constructo de Inteligencia Emocional, varios constructos relacionados con ella han generado una cierta cantidad de literatura en el ámbito de la psicología clínica, particularmente él de ale...

The transition from high school to university was used as the context for examining the relationship between emotional intelligence and academic achievement. During the first month of classes 372 first-year full-time students at a small Ontario university completed the short form of the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQ-i:Short). At the end of the a...

Some researchers have questioned the stability of the three-factor structure of the 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) or the reliability of one or more factors of the scale. The aim of this study was to assess the replicability of the factor structure of the TAS-20 in a large community sample and to determine also whether the same three-fa...

The aim of this paper was to review findings from studies that have evaluated the reliability and factorial validity of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) in different languages and cultures. Data from published articles as well as unpublished data from various countries were reviewed to determine whether the three-factor structure of t...

The relationships among coping styles and psychopathology were examined with the MMPI-2 content scales and a reliable and valid coping measure-the Coping Inventory For Stressful Situations (CISS). Subjects were 167 higher-functioning normal adult males. The results are consistent with previous research that employed the CISS, a strong positive asso...