Association between Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Stress in Undergraduate Dental Students.

Norkhafizah Saddki,Dasmawati Mohamad,Noraini Sukerman

doi:10.21315/mjms2017.24.1.7

Norkhafizah Saddki, Dasmawati Mohamad + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21315/mjms2017.24.1.7

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Abstract

This study investigated the association of emotional intelligence (EI) and other factors with perceived stress (PS) in undergraduate dental students. A total of 234 undergraduate dental students at the School of Dental Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), in the academic year of 2009/2010, participated in this cross-sectional study. Self-administered questionnaires, the Assessing Emotions Scale and the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), were used to evaluate EI and PS, respectively. The mean EI score was 121.2 (SD 11.85). The scores were significantly higher in females than males, and in students who chose dentistry based on their own interest rather than in those who were motivated by others to study dentistry. The mean PSS-10 score was 21.2 (SD 5.08). Pearson correlation analysis indicated a significant inverse relationship between EI and PSS-10 scores (r = -0.337). Multi-variable regression analysis also indicated a significant negative linear association between EI and PSS-10 scores (b = -0.156, 95% CI: -0.207, -0.104). PSS-10 scores were significantly higher for students who were in the clinical years rather than the preclinical years. This study of USM undergraduate dental students shows that a low EI, female sex, and being in the clinical years were significant predictors of PS.

Highlights

Psychological stress is a subjective response to an environment that a person perceives as demanding or exceeding his/her adaptive capacity
More than half of them chose dentistry based on their own interests (69.2%), and the others were influenced by their parents (23.1%), or other people (7.7%) including siblings, relatives, friends, and teachers
We found that female dental students have significantly higher Perceived Stress Scale (PSS)-10 scores than males, in agreement with findings reported for undergraduate dental students in other institutions and countries [2, 3, 14]

Summary

Introduction

Psychological stress is a subjective response to an environment that a person perceives as demanding or exceeding his/her adaptive capacity. Small doses of stress can be a useful motivating factor to help people respond to changes, face challenges, and complete tasks, but excessive stress can be destructive to physical and psychological health. Previous studies have reported negative impacts of stress on dental students. Stressed dental students may experience physical symptoms, such as migraine, intense fatigue, insomnia, lack of appetite and overeating, as well as psychological symptoms, such as uncontrollable anger, depression, and decreased ability to concentrate [1]. Researchers have taken a great interest in stress among dental students, and a major focus is to identify factors associated with stress so that appropriate stressmanagement strategies can be developed. This study investigated the association of emotional intelligence (EI) and other factors with perceived stress (PS) in undergraduate dental students

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