Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2021
Keywords
affect; anxiety; depression; emotional intelligence; emotions; medical students; psychological distress; stress
Abstract
Context
Stress, anxiety, and depression affect medical student populations at rates disproportionate to those of general student populations. Emotional intelligence (EI) has been suggested as a protective factor in association with psychological distress.
Objective
To explore the relationships between EI and stress, anxiety, and depression among a sample of US osteopathic medical students.
Methods
From February to March 2020, a convenience sample of medical students enrolled at an osteopathic medical school in the southeastern region of the United States were invited to complete a voluntary and anonymous 54-item online questionnaire that included sociodemographic items as well as validated and reliable scales assessing perceived stress, anxiety, depression, and EI. Univariate statistics were calculated to describe the participant characteristics and the study variables of interest. Pearson’s product-moment correlations were used to examine relationships between EI and study variables. Three multiple regression models were fitted to examine the relationship between EI and stress, anxiety, and depression, adjusting for sociodemographic factors exhibiting significant bivariate relationships with outcome variables. Dichotomous variables were created that were indicative of positive screens for potential depressive disorder or anxiety disorder. Independent-sample t-tests were used to determine the presence of a statistically significant difference in EI scores between positive screeners for depression and anxiety and their respective counterparts; an alpha level of 0.05 was set a priori to indicate statistical significance.
Results
In all, 268 medical students participated in this study, for a response rate of approximately 27%. Importantly, EI exhibited significant negative correlations with stress, anxiety, and depression (r=−0.384, p
Conclusion
Our findings support the notion that higher levels of EI may potentially lead to increased well-being, limit psychological distress, improve patient care, and facilitate an ability to thrive in the medical field. We encourage continued study on the efficacy of EI training through intervention, measurement of EI in both academic and clinical settings as an indicator of those at risk for programmatic dropout or psychological distress, and consideration of EI training as an adjunct to the educational program curriculum.
Citation
Doyle, N. A., Davis, R. E., Quadri, S., Mann, J. R., Sharma, M., Wardrop, R. M., & Nahar, V. K. (2021). Associations Between Stress, Anxiety, Depression, and Emotional Intelligence Among Osteopathic Medical Students. Journal of Osteopathic Medicine, 121 (2), 125-133. https://doi.org/10.1515/jom-2020-0171
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
