Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Aug 18;17(1):139.
doi: 10.1186/s12909-017-0979-z.

Longitudinal predictive validity of emotional intelligence on first year medical students perceived stress

Richa Gupta  1 , Nikhilesh Singh  2 , Ramya Kumar  3
Affiliations

Longitudinal predictive validity of emotional intelligence on first year medical students perceived stress

Richa Gupta et al. BMC Med Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Emotional intelligence has been shown to affect academic performance and perceived stress. But conflicting reports suggest that the relationship between academic performance and emotional intelligence may not be straightforward. Hence, this study explored the relationship between emotional intelligence, perceived stress and academic performance.

Methods: First year medical students were invited to participate in this longitudinal study. At Time 1, before mid-semester examinations, they completed the questionnaires on Schutte's Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) and Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) (n = 213). At Time 2, before pre university examinations, students again completed perceived stress scale questionnaire. (n = 138). Academic performance was reported using summative assessment at both T1 and T2. The relationship between academic performance, emotional intelligence and perceived stress was explored using regression analysis.

Results: Neither PSS nor SEIS were related to academic performance. However, perceived stress was significantly predicted by SEIS both at T1 (r = 0.333, β = 0.149, p < 0.001) as well as T2 (r = 0.240, β = 0.116, p = 0.028). The results were cross-validated at student level both at T1 and at T2.

Conclusion: Medical students with higher trait emotional intelligence perceived lesser stress. Therefore, it might be prudent to train medical students to increase their emotional intelligence to promote their well-being.

Keywords: Academic performance; Emotional intelligence; Perceived stress; Predictive ability.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Institutional ethics committee at Mahatma Gandhi Medical College and Research Institute, Pondicherry approved the study and written consent was obtained from the participants.

Consent for publication

Not applicable

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

References

    1. Brackett MA, Salovey P. Measuring emotional intelligence with the Mayer-Salovery-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT) Psicothema. 2006;18(Suppl):34–41. - PubMed
    1. Pau A, Rowland ML, Naidoo S, AbdulKadir R, Makrynika E, Moraru R, et al. Emotional intelligence and perceived stress in dental undergraduates: a multinational survey. J Dent Educ. 2007;71:197–204. - PubMed
    1. Naidoo S, Pau A. Emotional intelligence and perceived stress. SADJ. 2008;63:148–151. - PubMed
    1. Por J, Barriball L, Fitzpatrick J, Roberts J. Emotional intelligence: its relationship to stress, coping, well-being and professional performance in nursing students. Nurse Educ Today. 2011;3:855–860. doi: 10.1016/j.nedt.2010.12.023. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stewart SM, Lam TH, Betson CL, Wong CM, Wong AM. A prospective analysis of stress and academic performance in the first two years of medical school. Med Edu. 1999;33:243–250. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2923.1999.00294.x. - DOI - PubMed