The relationships between empathy, stress and social support among medical students.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the relationship between stress, social support, and empathy among medical students.


METHODS
We evaluated the relationships between stress and empathy, and social support and empathy among medical students. The respondents completed a questionnaire including demographic information, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. Correlation and linear regression analyses were conducted, along with sub-analyses according to gender, admission system, and study year.


RESULTS
In total, 2,692 questionnaires were analysed. Empathy and social support positively correlated, and empathy and stress negatively correlated. Similar correlation patterns were detected in the sub-analyses; the correlation between empathy and stress among female students was negligible. In the regression model, stress and social support predicted empathy among all the samples. In the sub-analysis, stress was not a significant predictor among female and first-year students.


CONCLUSIONS
Stress and social support were significant predictors of empathy among all the students. Medical educators should provide means to foster resilience against stress or stress alleviation, and to ameliorate social support, so as to increase or maintain empathy in the long term. Furthermore, stress management should be emphasised, particularly among female and first-year students.
Department of Emergency Medicine, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Kyung Hye
KH
Park
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Dong-hee
DH
Kim
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Seok Kyoung
SK
Kim
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Young Hoon
YH
Yi
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Jae Hoon
JH
Jeong
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Jiun
J
Chae
Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
Jiyeon
J
Hwang
Department of Medical Education, Inje University College of Medicine, Busan, Republic of Korea.
HyeRin
H
Roh
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
Medical student; empathy; social support; stress