The relationship between childhood maltreatment and benign/malicious envy among Chinese college students: the mediating role of emotional intelligence

In the field of psychology, there are many studies on various aspects of envy. Previous studies have explored the effects of childhood maltreatment on general envy. However, few studies explored interventions aimed at mitigating the effects of childhood maltreatment on benign/malicious envy. Therefore, this study use a structural equation model method to examine the mediating role of emotional intelligence on the effects of childhood maltreatment on benign/malicious envy. We recruited 676 Chinese undergraduates to complete the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Benign and Malicious Envy Scale (BEMAS), and Wong Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS). The results show that childhood maltreatment positively predicts malicious envy and negatively predicts benign envy. In addition, emotional intelligence plays a significant role in mediating them. Moreover, path analysis shows that the mediating effect of emotional intelligence on the relationship between childhood maltreatment and malicious envy is significantly stronger than that between childhood maltreatment and benign envy. These results demonstrate the different relationships between childhood maltreatment and benign/malicious envy, and the mediating role of emotional intelligence.