Validation of the Arabic version of the Assessing Emotions Scale measuring emotional intelligence in a Lebanese sample

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric characteristics of the Arabic version of the Assessing Emotions Scale (AES‐Ar) among a sample of Lebanese young adults. A total of 402 Lebanese university students and their contacts were recruited for the study. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) investigated the structure of the scale. The CFA for investigating a four‐factor solution using all items showed the fit indices were acceptable (χ2/df = 1803.15/489 = 3.69; RMSEA = 0.082 [0.078–0.086]; CFI = 0.88; TLI = 0.87) but the loading of the negatively worded items 5, 28 and 33 were low on their respective factors. When testing the four‐factor model after removing items 5, 28 and 33, the results improved further with good fit indices of the model (χ2/df = 1383.184/399 = 3.46, RMSEA = 0.078 [0.074–0.0832], CFI = 0.91 and TLI = 0.90) and good factor loading of each item on each factor, respectively. No measurement invariance was found between genders. The AES‐Ar Cronbach's α was excellent (0.976). Higher Assessing Emotions Scale‐Ar scores, based on the 30 positively worded items, were significantly associated with greater self‐esteem (r = .547; p < .001), and less depression (r = −.295; p < .001). Our results suggest that the AES‐Ar is appropriate for use to measure emotional intelligence in Arabic‐speaking populations.