A stronger sense of emotional intelligence was associated with a stronger sense of occupational calling among Chinese police cadets, according to new peer-reviewed research that also points to emotion regulation and psychological well-being as possible links between the two.
The study, published in Scientific Reports on 3 October 2026, examined 529 police cadets using a cross-sectional survey and structural equation modelling. The researchers found that emotional intelligence was positively associated with calling both directly and through several indirect statistical pathways involving emotion regulation and psychological well-being.
The findings add detail to a question with practical significance for occupations in which emotional demands, public responsibility and a strong sense of professional purpose often overlap. They do not show that emotional intelligence causes people to develop a calling, however. Because all variables were measured at one point in time, the direction of the relationships remains uncertain.
Why emotional resources may matter in police training
Police work can require people to regulate emotions while making decisions under pressure, interacting with distressed members of the public and operating within demanding organisational environments. The researchers approached this issue through Conservation of Resources theory, which proposes that people seek to acquire and protect resources that help them manage demands.
In this framework, emotional intelligence can be viewed as a personal resource. It concerns people’s capacity to perceive, understand and work with emotional information. Emotion regulation concerns how people manage their emotional responses, while psychological well-being reflects broader positive psychological functioning. Calling, in turn, describes the extent to which a person experiences work as deeply meaningful or purposeful rather than merely instrumental.
The researchers proposed that these concepts may be connected as a resource pathway. Cadets reporting greater emotional intelligence might also report stronger emotion-regulation capacity, which could be associated with better psychological well-being and, ultimately, a stronger sense that policing represents meaningful work.
The study followed 529 Chinese police cadets
The analysis included 529 police cadets in China. Participants completed survey measures covering emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, psychological well-being and calling. The researchers then used structural equation modelling to test the relationships among the constructs and to estimate several indirect pathways.
This approach is useful because it allows researchers to examine whether the observed association between two variables is statistically consistent with intermediate variables forming part of the relationship. It is important, however, to distinguish statistical mediation in cross-sectional data from evidence of a causal mechanism unfolding over time.
The study tested three principal indirect routes. The first ran from emotional intelligence through emotion regulation to calling. The second ran from emotional intelligence through psychological well-being to calling. The third was a sequential pathway in which emotional intelligence was associated with emotion regulation, emotion regulation with psychological well-being, and psychological well-being with calling.
Emotional intelligence was associated with calling through multiple pathways
The central result was consistent across the model: higher emotional intelligence was positively associated with a stronger sense of calling. Importantly, the association did not disappear after the researchers accounted for the proposed intermediate variables. A significant direct association remained alongside the indirect associations.
All three tested indirect pathways were supported statistically. Emotional intelligence was indirectly associated with calling through emotion regulation alone, through psychological well-being alone, and through the sequential combination of emotion regulation followed by psychological well-being.
Among these routes, the indirect estimate involving psychological well-being alone was numerically the largest. That pattern suggests that well-being may be particularly important to understanding why emotional intelligence and occupational meaning tend to occur together in this sample. It does not establish that improving well-being would necessarily increase calling.
The persistence of the direct association is also informative. The model does not imply that emotion regulation and well-being completely explain the emotional intelligence and calling relationship. Other psychological, educational, organisational or social factors may contribute as well.
The results fit a resource-based explanation
The findings are consistent with the researchers’ Conservation of Resources interpretation. Someone who is better able to understand emotional information may have a larger psychological resource base for dealing with emotionally demanding situations. Effective regulation of emotional responses may help preserve those resources, while stronger psychological well-being may make it easier to experience one’s prospective occupation as meaningful and personally significant.
That interpretation is especially relevant during police training. Cadets are not simply acquiring technical knowledge. They are also developing professional identities and expectations about a career that can involve conflict, uncertainty and substantial emotional labour.
The results therefore raise a practical possibility for police academies: emotional competencies, emotion-regulation skills and psychological well-being could be considered together rather than treated as unrelated areas of trainee development. Programmes designed to strengthen these capacities could subsequently be tested to determine whether they affect occupational meaning, resilience or later job outcomes.
A strong calling is not automatically the same as better performance
The study focused on psychological associations, not operational police performance. A stronger reported calling should therefore not be interpreted as evidence that a cadet will necessarily become a more effective officer, make better decisions or experience fewer mental-health difficulties.
Calling can be valuable because it gives work meaning, but occupational purpose exists within a broader organisational environment. Training quality, workload, leadership, peer support, job demands and institutional culture may all shape whether a strong professional commitment ultimately benefits the individual and the organisation.
The new study is most useful as evidence that emotional functioning, well-being and occupational meaning are closely connected in this particular group. It identifies plausible targets for future research rather than demonstrating a ready-made intervention.
The cross-sectional design is the central limitation
The most important limitation is timing. Emotional intelligence, emotion regulation, psychological well-being and calling were all assessed at the same point. Structural equation modelling can quantify whether the data are consistent with a proposed pathway, but it cannot determine which variable changed first.
For example, higher emotional intelligence could contribute to better well-being, but people with stronger well-being might also rate their emotional capacities more positively. Similarly, a strong sense of calling could influence how cadets understand their own emotional experiences. Reciprocal relationships are also possible.
The reliance on self-reported measures creates another limitation because the same participants reported all of the principal constructs. The sample was also drawn from Chinese police cadets, so the magnitude and structure of the associations should not automatically be assumed to apply to serving officers, police organisations in other countries or occupations with different training cultures.
Longitudinal studies could test whether emotional intelligence measured early in training predicts later changes in emotion regulation, well-being and calling. Randomised interventions targeting emotional skills or well-being would provide a stronger test of whether changing one part of the proposed pathway produces changes elsewhere.
What the study adds
The research provides a structured account of how several positive psychological resources cluster among police cadets. In 529 participants, emotional intelligence was positively associated with calling directly and through emotion regulation and psychological well-being, with the well-being-only indirect route emerging as the numerically largest of the indirect estimates.
The broader message is not that emotional intelligence guarantees a meaningful career. Instead, the results suggest that emotional competencies, the capacity to manage emotions and psychological well-being may form an interconnected resource system alongside occupational purpose. Establishing whether that system is causal will require following trainees over time and testing interventions directly.
Source Information
Study: Emotional intelligence and calling among police cadets: Cross-sectional indirect associations through emotion regulation and psychological well-being
Authors: Kai Bao, Shicun Xu, Weicai Li, Yingwei Song, Xinfeng Liu, Qingxin Ning, Yinan Li and colleagues, including corresponding author Xiang Che
Journal: Scientific Reports
Published: 3 October 2026
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-74383-w
