Emotional Intelligence and Perceived Stress in Dental Undergraduates

Stress has been defined as the strain that accompanies a demand perceived to be either challenging (positive) or threatening (negative) and, depending on the appraisal, may be either adaptive or debilitating. Recent research has shown that dental students with high emotional intelligence (EI) are less likely to report perceived stress (PS). EI may be conceptualized in terms of perception, appraisal, and expression of emotions; emotional facilitation of thinking; understanding, analyzing, and employing emotional knowledge; and reflective regulation of emotions. Objective: of this study was to determine of EI and PS in sample of first year dental students. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in the Faculty of Dentistry, UWC. First year dental undergraduates who had completed at least six months of their dental degree course during 2005/06 were invited to complete a set of questionnaires on EI and (PS. Results: Of the 98 volunteers who completed the questionnaires, 43 were male (44%) and 55 female (56%), with a response rate of 85%. The mean age was 20.35 years. There was an inverse relationship between EI and PS that was statistically significant. Stepwise regression analysis identified significant predictors of PS as gender, previous higher education qualification, satisfaction with decision to study dentistry and EI. The t statistic indicated that EI is relatively the most important predictor of PS. Conclusions: Students who were satisfied with their decision to study dentistry were less likely to report PS. Satisfaction with decision to study dentistry may reflect that the student has chosen dentistry as their first career choice.