Validity and reliability of Spanish version of the EQ-i: YV[S] in Colombian children and youth.

Introduction: Validity and reliability evaluations of the Emotional Quotient Inventory: Youth Version (EQ-i: YV[S]) with children and adolescents from different countries have shown variations in the structural model proposed by Bar-On.

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of EQ-i: YV[S] with a Colombian' sample.

Method: We randomly selected a sample of 1355 children and adolescents between 8 and 14 years old (M = 10.80; SD = 1.41). We conducted exploratory (n = 416) and confirmatory (n = 939) factor analyses (EFA, CFA), reliability, internal consistency, and predictive validity.

Results: The EFA explained 27.6% of the variance. The AFC indicated a multidimensional structure with four factors and 21 items obtained the best fit (χ = 334.358; df = 183; RMSEA=0.030; CFI=.951; TLI=944; NFI=.899) with acceptable internal consistency (ω = .57,.75). EQ-i: YV[S] factors explain 18.5% of the observed variance in problem-centered coping scores.

Conclusions: The psychometric fit of the inventory supports evidence of its usefulness for screening processes in clinical or educational assessment.