Impact of social interdependence on emotional well-being of medical students.

OBJECTIVE To observe the effect of social interdependence on emotional well-being in medical students. METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in Karachi from June 2013 to January 2014 and comprised first-year medical students of 5 private and 3 public-sector colleges. Students of both genders aged 19-24 years were included. Quantitative aspects of social and emotional wellness were evaluated using a structured questionnaire from the wellness wheel on a four-point Likert's scale (score ranging from 0 to 3). Two focus group discussions were conducted in each medical college from the qualitative aspect. RESULTS Of the 736 participants, 526(71.47%) were females and 210(28.53%) were males. Males reported significantly less inclination towards exhibiting fairness, solving problems, teaching batch fellows and attending group discussion (p<0.05). They were significantly least anxious with less frequency of helping others during emotional outbursts (p<0.05). Females had higher frequency of close friends and self-improvement (p<0.05). The scores of social wellness were significantly better in females compared to males (p<0.001) while there was no significant difference in emotional wellness on the basis of gender (p>0.05). Social communication and help was highly positively correlated with self-content in students (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The medical students of Karachi had good social and emotional well-being.