Beyond Grades: The Influence of Emotional Competence on Academic Achievement Among Nursing Undergraduates

Objectives For nursing students, emotional competence, the capacity to identify, comprehend, communicate, and control emotions, is essential because it promotes empathy, successful academic performance, and effective communication. It is also essential for professional growth and stress management in nursing education. There is, however, little data on the connection between Indian nursing undergraduates’ academic achievement and emotional intelligence. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the emotional intelligence of undergraduate nursing students at Yenepoya Nursing College in Mangaluru and its relationship to academic success. Material and Methods 94 B.Sc. nursing students who were chosen by non-probability convenience sampling participated in a descriptive quantitative design. The standardized Profile of Emotional Competence (PEC) tool, which assesses five domains: identification, comprehension, expression, regulation, and utilization of emotions, was used to collect data. Exam results from the first and second semesters were used to gauge academic performance. High reliability was shown by the PEC (Cronbach’s α = 0.929). Using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) Statistics for Windows (version 29.0.10), descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation, and chi-square tests were used to analyse the data. Results Most participants were under 20 years old (51.1%) and female (81.9%). The utilization of one’s own emotions domain had the highest scores (15.48 ± 3.82), with the mean overall emotional competence score being 146.16. Of the group, 13.8% received a distinction and 67% received a first-class grade. A significant association ( p <0.05) was found between emotional competence and students who passed both semesters, but no statistically significant correlation ( p >0.05) was found between emotional competence and academic achievement. Conclusion Students with greater emotional competence performed better academically over time, even though there was no clear relationship between emotional competence and academic success. Better learning outcomes could be a result of increased emotional awareness and control. It is advised that nursing curricula incorporate emotional intelligence training to support students’ professional development, resilience, and adaptability.