Personality type and medical specialty choice.

The July 1999 issue of the Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society reported results of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator administered to 1,797 students at Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana from 1988 through 1998. The current follow-up study has as its subjects 1,262 matriculants who entered the School from 1988 through 1995 and completed their medical undergraduate studies by May 1999. In addition to identification of the graduates' Myers-Briggs type, information on their residency choice was also available. In this study, the authors explore possible association between the graduates' personality type and their chosen career, along with possible type differences of those graduates selecting primary care and those choosing non-primary care specialties.