A preliminary study of emotional intelligence, empathy and exam performance in first year medical students

A group of 156 first year medical students completed measures of emotional intelligence (EI) and physician empathy, and a scale assessing their feelings about a communications skills course component. Females scored significantly higher than males on El. Exam performance in the autumn term on a course component (Health and Society) covering general issues in medicine was positively and significantly related to El score but there was no association between El and exam performance later in the year. High El students reported more positive feelings about the communication skills exercise. Females scored higher than males on the Health and Society component in autumn, spring and summer exams. Structural equation modelling showed direct effects of gender and El on autumn term exam performance, but no direct effects other than previous exam performance on spring and summer term performance. El also partially mediated the effect of gender on autumn term exam performance. These findings provide limited evidence for a link between El and academic performance for this student group. More extensive work on associations between El, academic success and adjustment throughout medical training would clearly be of interest. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.