Daffa Raihan; Sekar Afnisa Sahara; Sulis Setiawati; Sri Mulyeni
Mental health among university students has become a critical concern in higher education, particulary as students are required to cope with increasing academic demands, social pressures,and the growing complexity of campus life. At this stage, students are in an early transitional period that requires them to adapt to various changes, both academically and psychosocially. Under thes circumstances, psychological factor play a significant role in helping student maintain mental balance, one of which is emotional intelligence. This study aims to explore and understand the relationship between emotional intelligence and students’ mental health through a literature review approach. The method employed in this study is a qualitative descriptive literature review of 18 national and international scholarly articles published between 2021 and 2025, focusing on topics related to emotional intelligence, academic stress, emotion regulation, and student mental health. The findings indicate that emotional intelligence demonstrates a strong and consistent association with various aspects of students’ mental health, including levels of academic stress, anxiety, depression, academic, burnout, resilience, adjustment abilities, and psychological well being. Students with higher levels of emotional intelligence tend to be more capable of recognizing and understanding their emotions,as well as managing them adaptively when facing academic and social pressures. These abilities contribute to reducing the risk of excessive psychological distress. Furthermore, emotional intelligence functions as a protective factor that support the development of effective coping strategies and healty interpersonal relationship. Therefore, fostering emotional intelligence, through promotive and preventive programs within higher education instituions has the potential to become a strategic effort in enhacing and sustaining students’mental health over the long term.