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Medical Students With Higher Emotional Intelligence Were More Aware of Self-Anxiety and Scored Higher in Continuous Assessment: A Cross-Sectional Study

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Abstract

Introduction

High emotional intelligence (EI) has been associated with good behaviour, better academic performance and improved empathy towards patients. This study examined the relationship between emotional intelligence, self-reported anxiety and academic performance among medical students in a public medical school in Malaysia.

Methods

This was part of a larger cross-sectional study examining the association of EI and academic performance among medical students in a Malaysian medical school using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Students answered a paper-based demographic questionnaire and completed the online MSCEIT. Independent predictors were identified using multivariable logistic regression.

Results

A total of 159 (83 first year and 76 final year) medical students participated and provided complete data in this study (response rate of 64.4 %). There were significant differences between self-reported anxiety and the mean total EI score (p = 0.029), Emotional Experiencing area score (p = 0.037), Using Emotions branch score (p = 0.053), Understanding Emotions branch score (p = 0.046), Changes (p = 0.015) and Pictures (p < 0.0001) tasks scores. Students who answered “not sure” to the item “I feel anxious most of the time in this academic year” had lower means of the above mentioned EI scores and continuous assessment marks. Picture task score was an independent predictor of anxiety self-awareness (adjusted odds ratio 0.93 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.89 to 0.96).

Conclusions

Medical students with higher EI were more aware of their anxiety and performed better in continuous assessment compared to those with lower EI. However, medical students with higher emotional intelligence did not have lesser self-reported anxiety.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by Research University Grant Scheme (RUGS) grant number 04-02-10-0942RU. We would like to acknowledge the dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in UPM for her permission and support in conducting this study. We are grateful to Lee Yew Kong for his English editing services. We want to thank all the participating medical students in Universiti Putra Malaysia; without your cooperation, this study was impossible. We thank David Caruso for his comments on the manuscript.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia

    Boon How Chew & Faezah Hassan

  2. Unit of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Boon How Chew

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia

    Azhar Md. Zain

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  1. Boon How Chew
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Correspondence to Boon How Chew.

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Chew, B.H., Hassan, F. & Md. Zain, A. Medical Students With Higher Emotional Intelligence Were More Aware of Self-Anxiety and Scored Higher in Continuous Assessment: A Cross-Sectional Study. Med.Sci.Educ. 25, 421–430 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40670-015-0168-9

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