Emotional intelligence and defense mechanisms as determinants of psychological health in medical students

Problem. Despite the recognised role of emotional intelligence (EI) and defense mechanisms in personal adaptation, their systemic influence on the psychological health of medical students experiencing intense stress and professional development remains insufficiently studied. The lack of data on the specific interrelationships of these constructs in future doctors hinders the development of targeted psychological support programs. Aim. To identify the nature of the relationships between emotional intelligence, psychological defense mechanisms, and indicators of psychological health in medical students, as well as to conduct a comparative an alysis of the expression of defense mechanisms and the level of psychological well-being in groups with different levels of emotional intelligence. Methods. The sample consisted of 392 second-year medical university students. The following instruments were used: the “EmIn” questionnaire (D.V. Lyusin, 2006) for diagnosing emotional intelligence; the “MMPD” method of measuring psychological defense (E.R. Pilyugina, R.F. Suleymanov, 2020); and the PERMA-Profiler questionnaire (J. Butler, M.L. Kern, 2016), adapted by O.M. Isaeva, A.Yu. Akimova, and E.N. Volkova, to assess psychological well-being. Statistical processing included comparative (Mann–Whitney U-test), correlation (Spearman’s rs), and contingency table analysis (Pearson’s χ²). Results. An imbalance in the EI components was revealed: despite high interpersonal EI (77.8 %), 49.3 % of the students showed a deficit in intrapersonal EI. Negative correlations were established between overall EI and regression (rs=−0.38), avoidance (rs=−0.39), and dissociation (rs=−0.25), while positive correlations were found with sublimation (rs=0.40) and humor (rs=0.28). Significant differences in the expression of adaptive and immature defenses were found between groups with high and low levels of EI. A strong association was identified between EI and psychological well-being (χ²=61.9; p<0.001): in the low EI group, the proportion of individuals with insufficient well-being was 39.8 %, whereas in the high EI group, it was 4.4 %. Conclusions. High emotional intelligence is associated with the use of mature defense mechanisms and a higher level of psychological well-being. The obtained data substantiate the need for targeted development of the intrapersonal component of EI in medical students to prevent psychological health disorders and emotional burnout.