nds oul of Hkh and Welbing 2, sn, ots hepshritncomdenshpnehural et ©2014 Ian Asai of Head, Resch and Wete Perceived stress and emotional intelligence in medical students Deepak Malik and Rajkumar Clinial Psychology Post Graduate Institute of Medical Dharmender Kumar Nehra Clinical Psychologist, Slate Insti Health, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sidharth Arya Junior Resident (Psychiat) Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana 1 of Mental Scienees (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana Sciences (PGIMS) camps, Roba, Haryana “Thomodicalsience has undergone a tremendous evolution nthe past sntury now medical professional ae able to cue the disorder that were caer taken a toll milion’ ie Sets an its aegtive consequence om health ‘professionals have received relatively litle attention inthe literature in past. Ahough, the potential detriment of ests life sile for heath profersonal has besa raised recently spony i that health profesionle who Belp patents to got rd of stress arealeo burdened with ses, The sims ofthis sty ietwofOd: (1) to provide awareness regarding the prevalence of tress in medial students and (2)to assess the asocition between stress and Emotional intligence that is generally considered ae a buffer aginst ss. Ths crost-sectional study examined 100 medical students out of which $0 wetefealeand 50 were male. Perceived Stess Scale (PSS) and Emotional Iligence Scale (EIS) were administered. The data obtained forthe variables under study have bevn subjected to diffrent Statistical analysis, Outothe trl sample (hundred) of medical studeas, approximately 71%of them found to ave high lve of perceived stess In addition, significant difference was found in EIS scores between female and malestudents. The findings also indicted significant nepativeeomeaton between perecived stress and El. This study suggested thatthe prevalence ofperesived ses in medical stent is high inespective oftheir genet.n view ofthe fact that in presen study 100 occurence of perceived sues is almost similar that found inthe other societies. Hence, autors recommended appropiate interventions (sess management) or them 0 that they will Capabletoear complex vocational skills for making them self-sufficient andindependent professionals Keywords: medical students, perceived stress, emotional intelligence, psychological problems ‘There is no doubt that nowadays human beings are constantly dealing with various stresses (Nehra, Sharma, Kumar, "Nehra.2013).It may be because of hectic lifestyle, intense work pressure, under we live today. In addition, personal ambitions, social pressure, and individual orientation to sedentary mental work, with ‘many other possible reasons, make everyone go through persistent stresses (Nehra, Sharina, Kumar, Nehra,2013).Inshort, itean be said that there is no society and strata that are immune to stress; student population isalso not an exception. Mental problems areas prevalent among college students as same-aged non-students, and these problems appear to be increasing in number and severity (Hunt & Eisenberg, 2010).As far as medical students are considered, there is sizeable lteratute available even in developed countries raising the serious issue that medical education and practice is fll of stress (Petertini, Tibério, Saadeh, et al, 2002).Many people may feel that they have very litle resources or skills to deal with the high levels of sess they ate experiencing under constant deadlines or have too ‘much to handle (Nehra, Nehra, Dogra, 2012). Former research indicated towards multiple reasons for stress being highly prevalent ‘in medical students, The most common factors causing stress in students are high parental expectations, vastness of academic syllabus, frequency of examination, dissatisfaction with class lectures, lack of time for recreation and quality of food in mess (Shaikh, Shaikh, Magsi, 2010) Vitaliano, Maiuro, Mitchell, Russo in 1989 did superb reviews of the literature and cited that “Despite agreement regarding the existence of perceived siess in medical school, the sources of such stress are not clear, Some researchers attribute it to the medical school environment, oF to student ‘Correspondence should be sent to Deepak Malik Clinical Psychology, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, Haryana characteristics, and othershelieve such perceptions aretheresult ofa complex combination ofboth sets of factors”. Multiple stress factors, visiting all at once may disrupt the balance of health and the body's ability to maintain wellness (Nehra, Nehra, Dogra, 2012). ‘Understanding the role of stress in development and maintenance of different medical conditions are surely a key goal in recent research (Nehra, Sharma,lfoods.2013; Nehra, Sharma, Ku Nehra,2013-in pressiRajkumar, Malik, Nebra,Soni, Gupta,2013;, Nehrs, Sharma, Kumar, Nehra,2012:Nehra, Sharma, Kumar, Nehra,2012;Nehra, Sharma, Ali, et al, 2012; Nehrad&e Sharma, 2013). In the same lineexperts also claimed that medical sfudentshave to cope with complex stressful factors(Dahlin, Joneborg, Runeson,2005), that affect their academic performance negatively; whereas Emotional Intelligence (EI) is a significant predictor of academic performance (Chew, Zain, Hassan, 2013)sand stress coping abilities or might serve as a buffer for stress (Bits, MeKendree, Wat,2009) Recent findings have provided necessary information about the connections between the perceived stress and EE in clinical population (Rajkumar, Malik, Nehra.Somi, Gupta, 2013).But relatively lite is known about prevalence of perceived stress and Elin medical studentsin Indian setting, Perceived Stress (PS): An enlarging body of evidence suggests that stress is associated with possible negative academic (Shaikh, ‘Shaikh, Mogsi,2010) and professional consequences; but it does not ‘can that all stess is detrimental, Indoed, it affects mental and physical well-being bothbeneficially and detrimentally (Evans, uckelebridge, Clow, 2000), Undeniably, a certain amount of stress ini is desirable, Selye (1976) coined the word “eustress” to refer to stress of this kind, and to distinguish it from distress, which is, prejudicial to health and wel-being. Reactivity to stress and/or coping with it via hostility may enhance overall distress. High