European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Mental health plays a very important role in achieving a balanced mental, emotional and social well being state in any person[1]. Self-actualization, self-esteem, affect and mood form the key components of mental health[2. Recent epidemiological data depict an increase in mental disorders as per two indicators: Years Lived with Disability and Disability Adjusted Life Years[3,4].

Ability to understand and regulate our own emotions as well as those of others form the basis of trait Emotional Intelligence[5]. EI is chiefly defined by four cognitive abilities: Evaluation and expression of emotions, regulation of emotions, use of emotions for solving problems and the emotive regulation. The earlier theory of EI was given by Mayer and Salovey in 1990, as it was based on Gardner’s concept of social intelligence]. It was assessed by them that EI is focused on identification and utilization of the emotional state of the self and others for solving problems and regulation of behavior[6]. EI has been known to provide great potential to improve mental health and performance at work place[7].

Academicians have been working for long to discover the factors that can play a very important contributory role in enhancing the academic performance of students. The claim made by Goleman that IQ contributes to just 20% of a person’s success made academicians and researchers intrigued to search the role of EI in contributing to a person’s success[8].]Much less is known about the gender differences in EI. It has been studied that higher prevalence and severity of psychological morbidity has been reported in females as compared to males[9, in common masses and among medical students[10] .

 But very few studies are available to report the association in mental health and emotional intelligence in both male and female medical students. In keeping this view, the present study was planned to assess the gender difference in mental health and emotional intelligence in first year medical students and to find out the relationship between mental health and EI in both male and female medical students.

The present study was conducted in the department of Physiology, GMC Kathua. Data was collected by means of self-reported questionnaire. Prior approval for conducting the study was taken from Institutional Ethical Committee, Kathua vide order no. IEC/GMCK/43 dated 29/05/2024.

Students participating were voluntarily enrolled for the study based on their informed consent. Purpose of study was fully explained to the students. Self reported questionnaire based on 12-item version of the General Health Questionnaire was used. The given scale is well-validated for identifying minor psychological disorders in student samples^[11] as well as young population in the community^[12]. 12 items mentioned on the GHQ-12, represent 12 manifestations of psychological morbidity^[13]. Students were asked to mention how their health has been over the last week compared to their usual state on 4-point scale (better than usual=0,same as usual=1, less than usual=2, much less than usual=3).Participants who scored >4 were considered as having higher risk of psychological morbidity.

EI was measured using Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire-short form (TEIQue-sf)^[14].Trait EI includes 30 items, measuring self perception of emotions based on personality traits. It’s a short version of long form of trait EI including 153 items. Provides assessment of global trait EI as well as involved 4 factors, namely well being, emotionality, self-control and sociability. Each item is scored on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (completely disagree) to 7 (completely agree). Six items each correspond to scores of well-being, self-control, sociability subscales and 8 items for emotionality subscale. Rest four items form a part of global trait score. Global trait EI score is calculated by summing up the item scores and dividing it by the total number of items. The possible range of scores is from 30 to 210. Similarly, subscale scores are calculated by summating item scores in that particular subscale and dividing it by the total no. of items in it.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Table: Gender-Based Comparison of Psychological and Emotional Variables with Reliability Estimates

   Test used: Student's t test

    *Signifies significant p value<0.05

In this study, descriptive statistics and group comparisons were conducted to examine differences in psychological distress and emotional intelligence between male and female medical students. The sample included 52 males and 48 females aged 18–21 years. Age distribution was comparable across groups, with males reporting a mean age of 19.40 years (SD = 1.26) and females 19.17 years (SD = 1.02), showing no significant difference (p = 0.301).

Subscale comparisons revealed no significant sex differences in wellbeing (p = 0.571), self-control (p = 0.966), emotionality (p = 0.589), or sociability (p = 0.271), suggesting broadly similar emotional intelligence profiles across genders. Reliability analysis showed acceptable to good internal consistency for all scales, with Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.730 for GHQ-12 and 0.810 for TEIQue Global. Subscale reliability ranged from 0.590 (sociability) to 0.680 (wellbeing), supporting the psychometric robustness of the measures used.

Internal Consistency and Reliability

Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each scale to assess internal consistency reliability. This coefficient reflects the extent to which items within a scale measure the same underlying construct. Values above 0.70 are generally considered acceptable, while those above 0.80 indicate good reliability.

In this study, the TEIQue Global scale demonstrated good internal consistency (α = 0.810), supporting its reliability in assessing trait emotional intelligence among medical students. The GHQ-12 also showed acceptable reliability (α = 0.730), indicating consistency in measuring psychological distress.

Among The Teique Subscales

Wellbeing (α = 0.680) and Emotionality (α = 0.630) showed moderate reliability. Self-Control (α = 0.600) and Sociability (α = 0.590) demonstrated lower but acceptable reliability, suggesting that while these subscales are consistent, they may benefit from further refinement or contextual interpretation.

Table: Gender-Wise Distribution of GHQ-12 Caseness Among Participants (n = 100)

A cross-tabulation of GHQ-12 caseness by sex revealed that 54.2% of female students (n = 26) and 46.2% of male students (n = 24) scored above the threshold (GHQ > 4), indicating psychological distress. Conversely, 45.8% of females (n = 22) and 53.8% of males (n = 28) were classified as non-cases (GHQ ≤ 4). Although a higher proportion of females met the caseness criteria, the difference was not statistically significant (χ² = 0.64, p = 0.423), suggesting comparable levels of psychological morbidity across sexes in this sample.

Table : Correlation Between GHQ-12 Score and TEIQue Global by Sex

         Test used: Pearson correlation

          *signifies significant p value<0.05

Pearson correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant negative association between GHQ-12 scores and TEIQue Global scores in both sexes. Among female students (n = 48), the correlation was r = −0.375, p = 0.009, indicating a moderate negative relationship. Similarly, male students (n = 52) showed a correlation of r = −0.338, p = 0.014, also reflecting a moderate negative association. These findings suggest that higher emotional intelligence is consistently associated with lower psychological distress across both groups. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males.

Table: Correlation Between GHQ-12 Score and TEIQue Subscales by Sex

    Test used: Pearson correlation

     *signifies significant p value<0.05

     **signifies highly significant p value<0.001

Wellbeing: The Wellbeing subscale showed a statistically significant moderate negative correlation with GHQ-12 scores in both female and male students. Among females (n = 48), the correlation was r = −0.425 (p = 0.003), while among males (n = 52), it was r = −0.336 (p = 0.015). These findings suggest that students reporting higher levels of wellbeing tend to experience lower psychological distress. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males.

Self-Control: The Self-Control subscale demonstrated a statistically significant moderate negative correlation with GHQ-12 scores in both sexes. Among females, the correlation was r = −0.470 (p < 0.001), and among males, r = −0.506 (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that students with higher self-regulatory capacity tend to report lower psychological distress. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the male group compared to females.

Emotionality: Emotionality was significantly and negatively correlated with GHQ-12 scores in both groups. Female students showed a correlation of r = −0.337 (p = 0.019), and male students r = −0.317 (p = 0.022), indicating a moderate inverse relationship. This suggests that individuals with greater emotional awareness and expression are less likely to experience psychological distress.  Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males.

Sociability: The Sociability subscale showed a moderate negative correlation with GHQ-12 scores in both sexes. Among females, the correlation was r = −0.358 (p = 0.028), and among males r = −0.381 (p = 0.005). These results imply that students with stronger interpersonal skills and social engagement tend to experience lower levels of psychological distress. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the male group compared to females.

In the present study, gender differences in mental health and EI among first year medical students along with inter-relationships between mental health and EI were evaluated. It was observed from the findings that subscale reliability supported the psychometric robustness of the measures used. These findings suggest that higher emotional intelligence is consistently associated with lower psychological distress across both groups. Below mentioned inference was drawn from the findings:

Students reporting higher levels of wellbeing tend to experience lower psychological distress. These findings also suggest that individuals with greater emotional awareness and expression are less likely to experience psychological distress. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males.

Students with stronger interpersonal skills and social engagement tend to experience lower levels of psychological distress. Students reporting higher levels of wellbeing tend to experience lower psychological distress.

Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males. Students with higher self-regulatory capacity tend to report lower psychological distress. Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the male group compared to females. This suggests that individuals with greater emotional awareness and expression are less likely to experience psychological distress. 

Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males. Individuals with greater emotional awareness and expression are less likely to experience psychological distress.  Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the female group compared to males. Students with stronger interpersonal skills and social engagement tend to experience lower levels of psychological distress.

Notably, the strength of the correlation was slightly higher in the male group compared to females.  It has been observed in the studies that mental health of the students before their entry into the medical college is same as that of their non-medical counterparts[15]. Mental health gets deteriorated as they pass through different professional years and it has been observed that mental health is more fragile in the initial professional years[16]. Results were also consistent with findings of Delhom et al, that females’ higher skills of emotional regulation help them to manage their emotions effectively[17].

The present study throws light that appropriate measures should be taken by the involved faculty and governing bodies of the institution to motivate students to adopt the strategies to improve their mental health and enhance their emotional intelligence to alleviate the levels of stress in most vulnerable and adverse circumstances helping them to evolve as better health care professionals in the future.

The study demonstrated that female medical students experienced significantly higher psychological distress compared to males, as reflected in GHQ-12 scores. However, emotional intelligence- both global and across sub-domains did not differ significantly between genders, indicating broadly similar emotional profiles. Across both sexes, higher emotional intelligence was moderately and inversely correlated with psychological distress.

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