The Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Stress, Anxiety, and Depression among Iranian Students

Background: Entering a new environment such as university wouldexpose students to many psychological tensions. Among students, thosewith higher emotional intelligence can manage their stress better incritical situations. The purpose of this study was to investigate therelationship between emotional intelligence and levels of stress,anxiety, and depression among students.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional one and the populationincluded all students of Shahroud university of medical sciences. Theparticipants were ۴۰۳ students who were selected through multi-stagerandom sampling. Shiring emotional intelligence questionnaire anddepression, anxiety, and stress scale (DASS-۲۱) were used to collectdata. Independent t-test, chi-square, and pearson correlationcoefficient and also SPSS software were used to analyze the data.Results: The results indicated that ۸۲.۲% of the participants (n = ۳۳۱)had high emotional intelligence and ۱۷.۹% (n = ۷۲) had moderateemotional intelligence. The mean score of emotional intelligence was۱۱۳.۵ among the participants, and levels of stress, anxiety, anddepression were significantly different between two groups of studentswith high and medium emotional intelligence. Correlation of emotionalintelligence score with stress score (r = -۰.۵۹), anxiety score (r = -۰.۵۷) and depression score (r = -۰.۶۵) indicated a reverse andsignificant relationship between emotional intelligence with stress,anxiety, and depression.

Keywords:

Anxiety , Depression , Emotional intelligence , Stress , Students