An international study of emotional intelligence in first year radiography students: The relationship to age, gender and culture

• Emotional intelligence is a key trait for healthcare professionals and healthcare students.
• Gender, age and culture impact on trait emotional intelligence scores of radiography students.
• Differences in trait emotional intelligence scores exist between Western and Asian radiography students.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is an important personality trait in healthcare professionals and students. This study aims to identify gender, age or culture differences in trait EI scores between student radiographers across four countries. The short form of the trait EI questionnaire (TEIQue-SF) was used to collect data from first year radiography students in Australia, Hong Kong, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Global EI and Sociability scores of the first year radiography students were in keeping with published norm data in terms of gender differences, however, Self-Control and Emotionality scores did not follow the gender-based norms. Statistically significant differences in Global EI (p = 0.02), Wellbeing (p = 0.002) and Sociability (p = 0.003) were found with Western versus Asian cultures being a key factor. This study highlights a number of EI findings of importance to health-related professional programmes and the potential impact of cultural background on this key personality trait.