The Association of Emotional Intelligence with Academic Achievement and Characteristics of Students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Emotional intelligence can be considered as one of the leading factors influencing different aspects of life. It leads individuals to percept their feelings for appropriate decision making and fields for future accomplishments. Considering inconsistencies on the role of emotional intelligence in academic achievement in different studies, this study aimed to investigate the association of emotional intelligence with academic achievement and some characteristics of students in Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 students of Kashan University of Medical Sciences. Data was collected through a two-part questionnaire including demographic data for the first part and Farsi version of Cyberia-Shrink emotional intelligence survey for the second part. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, ANOVA, t-test, and Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: No significant correlation was found between emotional intelligence (mean score= 98.27±16.32) and academic achievement. Moreover, no significant difference was observed between female students’ emotional intelligence mean score (95.90±14.19) and that of males (100.81±18.10) (p=0.07). Although no significant relationship was observed between field of study and emotional intelligence, mean score was higher but not significant (p=0.529) among nursing and midwifery students (99.68±13.99) compared to other groups. Conclusion: Students under investigation obtained almost 59% of the attainable score for emotional intelligence. However, no significant correlation was observed between emotional intelligence score and academic achievement. This could be due to the characteristics of the current academic achievement tests and dependence of these tests on cognitive performance specially memory and learning capacities. This is while emotional intelligence is more related to individual’s success in interpersonal communications. In spite of all these, students’ familiarity with emotional intelligence could lead to their compatibility with setting. Therefore it is recommended to pay attention to emotional intelligence.