Emotional intelligence and learning strategies of postgraduate students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences in the southeast of Iran

Emotional intelligence and learning strategies are among the major requirements for success and academic achievement. The present research was designed and carried out to explore the relationship of emotional intelligence with learning strategies in postgraduate students.

The study employed a cross‑sectional design and was conducted at Kerman University of Medical Sciences in 2018. Using the emotional intelligence questionnaire by Bradberry and Greaves and a researcher‑made questionnaire of learning strategic, we assessed the relationship of emotional intelligence with learning strategies in postgraduate students using a census method (n = 338). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics including mean and standard deviation and analytic statistics such as Kolmogorov–Smirnov test, ANOVA, t‑test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient at P < 0.05 significance level.

This study showed that the mean emotional intelligence score of postgraduate students was 91.12 ± 13.92 and also no significant relationship between the learning strategies and the emotional intelligence in the participants, but the emotional intelligence components showed a positive significant relationship with the learning strategy components, namely self‑efficacy, rehearsal, critical thinking, cognitive self‑regulation, time and study environment management, peer learning, and help‑seeking.

It could be stated that emotional intelligence components can be taught and fostered to improve the emotional intelligence of the learners, optimal learning, and the quality of educational outcomes. However, a learning strategy is a natural, habitual, unique, and fixed preferential method that serves to absorb, process, and maintain new information and skills. In other words, reinforcement of emotional intelligence facilitates learning.