Medical Education Development Centre, College of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Med Teach. 2013;35(1):63-8. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2012.731104. Epub 2012 Nov 7.
Research on the correlation between personality and students' specialty choice is helpful in their career counselling process and in predicting the future distribution of the specialties in a country.
This study is the first of its kind in the Arab world. The research questions were: (1) What is the influence of gender on the personality profiles of medical students? (2) What are the personality profiles of students categorized according to their preferred specialist choices? (3) What are the preferred career choices of students categorized according to the stage of their medical education?
A cross-sectional study was performed at King Khalid University Medical School including 590 students during the academic year 2010-2011. A long version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire measuring five personality factors was used. Students were also asked for their specialty interests. Students were asked by means of a written questionnaire.
Study response was 92.5%. Surgery was the single most popular specialty amongst both male and female students. Males had significantly higher scores on the 'impulsive sensation seeking' scale and students preferring a surgery specialty had the highest score on the 'impulsive sensation seeking', 'neuroticism-anxiety', 'aggression-hostility' and 'sociability' scales. Hospital-based, surgical and primary care specialties became more popular as students progressed through their undergraduate years.
Different personality types have distinct preferences in medical students' choice of careers. Personality and specialty choice research can enhance career counselling of medical students and fresh graduates. This also has implications for predicting the specialty distribution of the future health careers.
研究人格与学生专业选择之间的相关性有助于他们的职业咨询过程，并有助于预测一个国家未来专业的分布。
本研究在阿拉伯世界尚属首例。研究问题如下：（1）性别对医学生的人格特征有何影响？（2）根据学生首选的专业选择，他们的人格特征是什么？（3）根据医学教育阶段，学生的首选职业选择是什么？
在 2010-2011 学年，在 Khalid 国王大学医学院进行了一项横断面研究，共纳入 590 名学生。使用了一种测量五个人格因素的 Zuckerman-Kuhlman 人格问卷的长版。还询问了学生的专业兴趣。学生通过书面问卷回答问题。
研究的响应率为 92.5%。外科是男女学生中最受欢迎的单一专业。男性在“冲动感觉寻求”量表上的得分明显更高，而选择外科专业的学生在“冲动感觉寻求”、“神经质-焦虑”、“攻击性-敌意”和“社交性”量表上的得分最高。随着学生在本科阶段的学习，以医院为基础的、外科和初级保健专业变得越来越受欢迎。
不同的人格类型在医学生的职业选择中有明显的偏好。人格和专业选择研究可以增强医学生和应届毕业生的职业咨询。这也对预测未来卫生职业的专业分布具有影响。
