Relationship between social anxiety and emotional intelligence in medical students

Objective:To provide theoretical basis for the intervention of social anxiety in medical students by analyzing the relationship between social anxiety and emotional intelligence.Methods:The Social Avoidance and Distress Scale(SAD) and Emotions Intelligence Scale(EIS) were employed to survey the medical students in Anhui Province by random sampling, and 948 of the 1 040 questionnaires were valid.Results:Emotional intelligence had significant predictive effects on social anxiety(P<0.01).emotional perception and management of emotions in others had significant negative prediction on social anxiety(P<0.01), and use of emotion had a significant positive prediction on social anxiety(P<0.01).Conclusions:The medical students with lower level of emotional intelligence have a higher level of social anxiety.Emotional intelligence is closely related to the social anxiety in the medical students, so improving the emotional intelligence may help to reduce the level of social anxiety.