LSU study revealed that girls that have higher emotional intelligence take care of their health more than boys

Girls of higher emotional intelligence take more care of their health, strengthen it and try to prevent accidents than boys. However, the situation is opposite, if girls have lower emotional intelligence. This conclusion was made by LSU researchers Prof. Dr. Romualdas Malinauskas, Prof. Dr. Audronė Dumčienė, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Saulė Sipavičienė and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Vilija Malinauskienė, who investigated whether the relationship between the emotional intelligence and health-related behaviour of students in Lithuanian universities is gender-specific.

The study involved 1,214 Lithuanian university students – 597 boys and 617 girls. LSU researchers, having analysed the questionnaire for emotional intelligence completed by the subjects and the Health Behaviour Checklist, found that gender best reflects health-related behaviour.

The results of the study show that female students able to understand and analyse emotions are more likely to avoid accidents and take less risks while driving, and this cannot be said about male students.

According to LSU researchers, the social skills of the students participating in the study indicate their emotional intelligence, which best reflects the concern for and strengthening of their health.

“The study indicates that gender has significant implications for the relationship between emotional intelligence and health-related behaviour. However, this study has not yet revealed the difference between girls and boys able to understand and analyse emotions in relation to the use of psychoactive substances (alcohol, nicotine, etc.). This requires further investigation,” said Prof. Dr. R. Malinauskas.

The survey was published in the ISI Web of Science (Clarivate Analytics) journal “BioMed Research International” in Great Britain. The citation index for this journal is 2.5.

 

Information provided by the Department of Health, Physical and Social Education