Emotional intelligence and its impact on the mental health of Chinese medical students: a questionnaire study.

Emotional intelligence differed significantly by gender, academic semester, leadership experience, and competition participation among Chinese medical students.

• The study included 1,376 undergraduate medical students from the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th semesters at the Norman Bethune Health Science Center of Jilin University.
• Mean EI score was 4.86 ± 0.81.
• All group differences by gender, academic semester, leadership experience, and competition participation were statistically significant (all p < 0.05).
• Data were collected via online questionnaire including sociodemographic questions and validated scales.

Students reporting stress, anxiety, or depression had markedly lower EI scores compared to those without these conditions.

• 53% of students reported stress, 9% reported anxiety, and 18% reported depression.
• Students with stress, anxiety, or depression all had significantly lower EI scores (all p < 0.001).
• EI was assessed alongside perceived stress, anxiety, and depression using validated scales.

Higher emotional intelligence was independently associated with lower odds of stress, anxiety, and depression in adjusted multivariate logistic regression models.

• Higher EI was associated with lower odds of stress (OR 0.20), anxiety (OR 0.14), and depression (OR 0.12).
• All associations were statistically significant (all p < 0.001).
• These associations were derived from adjusted models, controlling for other covariates.
• Analyses included descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, Pearson correlations, and multivariate logistic regression.

Emotional intelligence partially mediated the relationship between gender and psychological outcomes, explaining substantial proportions of gender differences in anxiety and depression.

• EI explained 36.4% of the total effect of gender on anxiety.
• EI explained 38.3% of the total effect of gender on depression.
• Mediation was partial, indicating that gender differences in psychological outcomes were not fully accounted for by EI.
• Mediation analyses were used to test whether EI mediated the relationship between gender and mental health indicators.

The authors identified EI as a modifiable competency and recommended incorporating EI-focused training into medical curricula.

• The authors recommended incorporating EI-focused training, leadership development, and experiential learning into medical curricula.
• The rationale was to strengthen students' emotional skills and psychological resilience.
• The authors called for future longitudinal and multi-institutional studies to evaluate the long-term impact of EI-enhancing strategies within medical education.