Journal of Education and Health Promotion

The relationship between emotional intelligence and academic stress in students of medical sciences

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

. Mohammad Reza Miri
. Tayyebe Kermani 1
. Hoda Khoshbakht 2
. Mitra Moodi 3

1 Department of Anatomical Sciences, Traditional and Complementary Medicine Research Center

2 Department of Nursing

3 Department of Health Sciences, Family Health Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran

Abstract
Background and Aim: Emotional intelligence (EI) theory provides a view about predicting
effective factors in people’s lives whether in education or profession. According to earlier
studies, people who have higher emotional skills are more successful in many of life aspects
:e.g., reaction to stress and controlling stress situations. Since students are the future of society,
this study was carried out to evaluate the relationship between EI and education stress in the
students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences (BUMS). Materials and Methods: In this
cross‑sectional study, 260 students were selected by proportional sampling in four faculties:
Medicine, Nursing and Midwifery, Paramedical Sciences, and Health. Data were collected
using two questionnaires: The standardized EI Shering’s (33 questions, five domains) and the
Student‑Life Stress Inventory (57 questions, nine domains). The obtained data were analyzed
by independent t‑test, Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and linear regression at the significant
level of α = 0.05. Results: Totally, 65.8% of participants were females and 31.1% were males.
The educational level of the participants included Associate’s degree (44.6%) Bachelor’s
degree in science (31.2%), and medical science (23.1%). There was no significant correlation
between EI scores and educational stress in students. But there was a significant relationship
between EI with sex (P = 0.02) and mean of EI scores with three domains of academic stress:
Personal favorites (P = 0.004), reaction to stressors (P = 0.002), and performance in stressful
situations (P = 0.001). Conclusion: Although EI growth in different individuals can promote
their success, it cannot decrease academic stress by itself which was particularly significant
in females. Therefore, other causes of stress such as individual differences must be taken into
consideration.

Keywords

Academic stress
emotional intelligence
individual differences
students
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Journal of Education and Health Promotion
Volume 3, Issue 7
July 2013
Pages 1-5

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