The relationship between emotional intelligence and academic performance among medical students in Mysuru

Abstract

Introduction: In medical education, it was known that only abstract intelligence was enough for patient treatment, but frequent failures and inabilities to handle social issues by students have led researchers to come out to explore other aspects of intelligence. Materials and Methods: It is a cross-sectional study for 3 months. The sample size was 110, and the data were collected using a Schutte self-assessment questionnaire from medical students in a medical college. The data were analyzed using mean, Pearson’s correlation, Student’s t-test, and ANOVA test using SPSS version 22. Results: The mean emotional intelligence (EI) of the participants was 121.11 ± 12.778. Most of the participants belonged to the age group of 19–23 years. Most belonged to the nuclear family (80%) and most fathers were professionals (81.8%). Sixty-five percentage of the students scored between 65% and 75% in their examinations. There was a negative correlation between EI and academic scores. High EI can mean that they can handle crises and emotional turmoil well but may not necessarily mean that it would translate to a good academic performance according to the current assessment techniques in medical universities. Conclusion: A negative correlation between EI and academic performance can be implied that either academic performance is independent of EI or the current education system is considering the cognitive domain in academic performance assessment which is not influenced by EI. The following core competencies are addressed in this article: Practice-based learning and improvement, Professionalism.