(380) An Evaluation of Emotional Intelligence and Pharmacy Students’ Leadership and Academic Performance

Trainee Category: Fellow

Objective : To examine the association of emotional intelligence with leadership involvement and academic performance of pharmacy students.

Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study that included all second-year pharmacy students in the 2022-23 academic year. Emotional intelligence was assessed through the Emotional Quotient Inventory, version 2.0 (EQ-i 2.0), which reports Emotional Quotient (EQ) results as subscales, composites, and total scores. Leadership involvement data was collected through faculty advisors of each student organization as number of officer positions held by each student throughout their PharmD curriculum. Academic performance was reported as a cumulative grade point average (GPA) for the 2021-22 academic year. The primary endpoint was mean EQ-i 2.0 total and subscale scores compared between students with < 2 and ≥2 leadership positions. The secondary endpoint was mean EQ-i 2.0 total and subscale scores of students with GPA < 3.3 and GPA≥3.3. Bivariate logistic regression was used to analyze each outcome.

Results: All 107 students in the second year completed the assessment. There were no significant differences seen in average total EQ for either outcome. Students with ≥2 leadership positions demonstrated higher social responsibility (odds ratio, OR=1.108, 95% CI=1.047-1.173), lower flexibility (OR=.953, 95% CI=.915-.993), and lower empathy (OR=.946, 95% CI=.900-.993) than students with < 2 positions. Students with GPA≥3.3 demonstrated lower assertiveness (OR=.956, 95% CI=.919-.994) than students with GPA < 3.3.

Conclusions: The study results indicated that there were no differences in total EQ scores in students with higher leadership involvement and academic performance. However, there were significant differences observed in specific subscales of emotional intelligence. Social responsibility was much higher in students with greater leadership involvement, while empathy and flexibility were lower. Students with higher academic performance also demonstrated lower assertiveness.