The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS): Normative Data From a Community Sample and Observed Interactions With Sex, Marital Status, Education, and Age

Emotional awareness (EA) is a valuable cognitive skill relevant to understanding human behavior and social relationships. The Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) was developed in 1990 and has been utilized extensively in research to measure individuals’ EA. However, there is no published normative information on this instrument in a U.S. sample. We report normative LEAS data (n = 381, M_age= 42.71, 51% females, 85.30 % White) for demographic variable levels (age, sex, education, socio-economic status [SES], marital status, ethnicity, religion). We also examine interactions among these variables in predicting LEAS scores. Results showed main effects of age, sex, education level, SES, ethnicity, and marital status on LEAS scores; higher scores were observed for female, younger, more educated, higher SES, white, and single participants. There were significant interactions between sex/education level, sex/marital status, and age/marital status. In conclusion, analysis of archived normative data revealed that age, sex, education, SES, and marital status uniquely impact LEAS scores; interactions between these factors also provided further insights into sources of variability. Future research in U.S. samples can utilize these normative data to better understand findings within and between specific populations of interest.