Career preference and personality differences in medical school applicants

Abstract

Doctors in different specialities differ in personality, attitudinal and other measures. These differences might be the result of self-selection, or an effect of socialization in undergraduate and postgraduate training or of specialist selection. In two studies we assessed the association between personality and other measures in applicants to medical school, since associations at that stage must reflect self-selection, rather than the effects of training. In study 1, preferences for 11 medical specialities were assessed in 509 medical school applicants being interviewed at University College London Medical School in 1989–1990. A large range of demographic, biographical and personality measures was also obtained in these individuals. Canonical correlation suggested five independent dimensions that linked career preferences with background measures. An exploratory stepwise multiple regression was used to find the most significant predictors for each career speciality and a number of strong patterns emerged, many of which made intuitive sense in terms of conventional stereotypes of doctors in those specialities. Study 2 was a direct a priori test of the significance of the important variables identified in study 1. Five hundred and sixty-three interviewees at UCLSM during 1991–1992 completed identical questionnaires to those used in Study 1 and the validity of the predictors found in Study 1 was assessed by fitting the same regression equations as had previously been identified. For 10 of the 11 careers the variables produced a highly significant prediction of preference. It is concluded that personality differences between doctors in different specialities are in part the result of self-selection, and not just the result of training or selection.