Emotional intelligence and social responsibility in adolescence

Using the emotional competence construct, defined by Carolyn Saarni (1999) as the set of skills which allow maintaining or changing transactions with the environment in an effective and socially appropriate manner, the study investigated the role of specific skills in social identity development, with a special attention to the need to understand the development of social responsibility (a sense of duty to others), given its relevance for building stronger relationships and communities. An adolescent’s increasing reliance on peers for emotional support and attachment impact considerably the social and emotional functioning. Further research is necessary to detail the ways in which contextual variables may interact both with one another as well as with individual emotional competence capacities to determine the course of the identity formation process.