title: Correlates of emotional intelligence: results from a multi-institutional study among undergraduate medical students.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Emotional Intelligence (EI) is the ability to deal with your own and others emotions. Medical students are inducted into medical schools on the basis of their academic achievement. Professionally, however, their success rate is variable and may depend on their interpersonal relationships. EI is thought to be significant in achieving good interpersonal relationships and success in life and career. Therefore, it is important to measure EI and understand its correlates in an undergraduate medical student population.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of study was to investigate the relationship between the EI of medical students and their academic achievement (based on cumulative grade point average [CGPA]), age, gender and year of study.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey design was used. The SSREIS and demographic survey were administered in the three medical schools in Saudi Arabia from April to May 2012.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The response rate was 30%. For the Optimism subscale, the mean score was M = 3.79, SD ± 0.54 (α = 0.82), for Awareness-of-emotion subscale M = 3.94, SD ± 0.57 (α = 0.72) and for Use-of-emotion subscale M = 3.92, SD ± 0.54 (α = 0.63). Multiple regression showed a significant positive correlation between CGPA and the EI of medical students (r = 0.246, p = 0.000) on the Optimism subscale. No correlation was seen between CGPA and Awareness of Emotions and Use of Emotions subscales. No relationship was seen for the other independent variables.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The current study demonstrates that CGPA is the only significant predictor, indicating that Optimism tends to be higher for students with a higher CPGA. None of the other independent variables (age, year of study, gender) showed a significant relationship.
authors.affiliation: Batterjee Medical College , Saudi Arabia .
authors.forename: Naghma
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Naeem
authors.forename: Cees
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: van der Vleuten
authors.forename: Arno M M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Muijtjens
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Violato
authors.forename: Syed Moin
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: Eiad Abdelmohsen
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Al-Faris
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hoogenboom
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Naeem
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004522:Educational Status; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D051381:Rats; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*