Emotional Intelligence and Support Predict Academic Success in Nursing Graduate Students

Nursing graduate education in Pakistan is increasingly recognized as pivotal for producing competent clinical leaders, educators, and researchers. However, the rigorous academic and clinical demands place immense psychological pressure on students, potentially compromising their academic performance and overall well-being. While emotional intelligence and perceived support have been independently linked to academic success in international contexts, their collective influence on nursing students in Pakistan remains underexplored. A new study published in BMC Nursing addresses this gap by evaluating the association between emotional intelligence, perceived institutional support, perceived supervisory support, and academic performance among nursing graduate students in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.

The research employed a cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational design to capture a snapshot of these relationships at a single point in time. A sample of 180 nursing graduate students was drawn from two nursing institutions in Multan: Nishtar Medical College and Multan University of Science and Technology. Participants were selected using non-probability convenience sampling, a practical approach for reaching graduate students in a defined geographic area, though one that limits how broadly the findings can be generalized. Data were collected via validated self-administered questionnaires, including an emotional intelligence scale, a perceived institutional support scale, a perceived supervisory support scale, and a measure of self-reported academic performance. All items were adapted for the Pakistani nursing education context to ensure cultural and linguistic relevance.

Because the study variables showed non-normal distributions, the researchers relied on statistical techniques suited to ranked data. Descriptive statistics summarized the levels of each construct, Spearman’s rank-order correlation quantified the strength and direction of associations, and Mann-Whitney U tests compared groups defined by differing levels of emotional intelligence. These non-parametric methods are robust when data do not follow a bell-shaped curve, making them appropriate for self-reported psychological measures of this kind.

The findings revealed that nursing graduate students demonstrated moderate levels of emotional intelligence, with a mean score of 3.73 and a standard deviation of 0.43. Perceived supervisory support was also moderate, averaging 3.79 with a standard deviation of 0.67, as was self-reported academic performance, which averaged 3.89 with a standard deviation of 0.39. In contrast, perceived institutional support stood out at a high level, with a mean of 4.15 and a standard deviation of 0.48. This pattern suggests that while students feel reasonably well supported by their institutions, their emotional skills and perceptions of supervisory backing sit closer to the middle of the scale.

Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed statistically significant positive correlations among all study variables. Emotional intelligence demonstrated significant positive correlations with academic performance, with a correlation coefficient of 0.515, and with perceived institutional support, at 0.574, both significant at the 0.01 level. It also correlated positively with perceived supervisory support, at 0.426. Perceived institutional support showed a significant positive correlation with academic performance, at 0.569, while perceived supervisory support demonstrated a significant positive correlation with academic performance, at 0.514. In practical terms, students who reported stronger emotional skills also reported more support from their institutions and supervisors, and both of these factors moved together with better academic outcomes.

When the researchers examined which variable was the strongest correlate of academic performance, perceived institutional support emerged at the top, accounting for roughly 32.4 percent of the variance in ranked academic performance. Emotional intelligence followed closely, explaining about 26.5 percent, and perceived supervisory support was nearly identical, at 26.4 percent. These squared correlation coefficients indicate that each factor, on its own, is meaningfully tied to academic success, and that no single element dominates the picture. Instead, the three constructs appear to operate as complementary contributors to how well graduate nursing students perform.

The Mann-Whitney U tests added a group-level dimension to the analysis. Graduate nursing students with higher emotional intelligence reported significantly greater perceived support and academic success compared to those with lower emotional intelligence. This comparison reinforces the correlational findings: the benefits of stronger emotional skills extend beyond individual performance and appear to shape how students experience their entire academic environment, from institutional backing to supervisory relationships.

The study establishes that emotional intelligence, perceived institutional support, and perceived supervisory support are significant contributors to the academic success of nursing graduate students in Multan, Pakistan. The authors underscore the need to integrate emotional intelligence development into nursing curricula and to strengthen emotionally supportive academic environments. They also call for supervisor training programs within the higher education landscape of Pakistan, arguing that such interventions are essential for fostering academic resilience, improving learning outcomes, and preparing students to navigate the complex demands of Pakistan’s evolving healthcare system.

For nursing educators and policymakers, the message is clear. Building emotional intelligence is not a soft add-on to a technically demanding curriculum; it is a measurable factor associated with how well students perform. At the same time, the prominence of perceived institutional support suggests that graduate students thrive when they believe their institutions genuinely invest in their success. Strengthening supervisory relationships may be equally important, given that support from supervisors correlated with academic performance at nearly the same strength as emotional intelligence itself. Together, these findings point toward a holistic model of graduate nursing education in which emotional skills, institutional commitment, and supervisory backing work in concert to produce the clinical leaders, educators, and researchers that Pakistan’s healthcare sector urgently needs.

Subject of Research: Health

Article Title: Evaluating the association between emotional intelligence, perceived support, and academic performance among nursing graduate students: a descriptive-correlational study

Article References: Sarwer, S., Bhuttah, T. M., Abid, M. N., & Dukhaykh, S. (2026). Evaluating the association between emotional intelligence, perceived support, and academic performance among nursing graduate students: a descriptive-correlational study. BMC Nursing, 25(1), Article 824. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-05348-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12912-026-05348-7

Keywords: emotional intelligence, nursing education, academic performance, perceived support, Pakistan, graduate students, Evaluating, association, between, emotional, intelligence, perceived