Influence of Age and Gender on Emotional Intelligence, Intelligence Quotient, Anxiety, and Behavior of Children in a Dental Setup

Background: Children's age is a significant predictor factor for their panic and conduct intraoperatively. A child's developmental stage influences their ability to handle stress in dental operations, and it seems that younger children are more anxious and have a better capacity to cope with dental procedures. Age and gender are said to have a significant influence on emotional quotient (EQ) and intelligence quotient (IQ), but the data regarding this is extremely sparse in the dental literature.

Aim: To find the impact of age and gender on EQ, IQ, panic, and conduct of children in an oral care setup.

Materials and methods: A total of 57 female and 50 male (total 107) children were considered participants aged 7-12 years. The study was executed in two sessions in the pediatric dentistry department. In the first session, "Bar-On emotional quotient inventory: youth version (Bar-On EQ-i: YV)" and the "Raven's colored progressive matrices (RCPM)" tests were administered to evaluate the EQ and IQ of the children, and a clinical psychologist supervised and guided the whole procedure. In the second appointment, anxiety was recorded using the "faces version of the modified child's dental anxiety scale (MCDAS_(f))," whereas behavior was recorded with the "sound, eye, and motor (SEM) scale." Interpretation of data was done by statistical methods.

Results: The difference in IQ scores between the groups aged 7-9 and 10-12 years was not statistically significant. There was a statistically notable difference (p-value of 0.006) in the RCPM IQ scores among male and female participants, where female participants scored better. There was a statistically insignificant variation in total EQ scores between male and female participants. Based on age and gender, a statistically insignificant variation was noted in the anxiety scores (MCDAS_(f)) among participants. A statistically notable difference (p-value of 0.018) was seen between the SEM scores of the 7-9 and 10-12 years age-groups. SEM scores of male and female participants showed no significant difference.

Conclusion: There was no influence of age on the IQ and EQ scores of the participants. A gender difference was found in relation to the IQ scores and the intrapersonal and stress management subscales of EQ. Based on age and gender, there was a statistically nonsignificant difference between the anxiety scores (MCDAS_(f)) of the participants. A statistically notable variation was seen between the SEM scores for behavior of the 7-9 and 10-12 years age-groups. Statistically insignificant variation was noted between the SEM scores of both genders.

How to cite this article: Agarwalla S, Chandra B, Kundu GK. Influence of Age and Gender on Emotional Intelligence, Intelligence Quotient, Anxiety, and Behavior of Children in a Dental Setup. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2024;17(5):518-523.