Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Western Sydney University, School of Medicine, Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia.
Med Educ. 2019 Jun;53(6):584-592. doi: 10.1111/medu.13812. Epub 2019 Feb 7.
Motivation to become a doctor has typically been conceived as arising from personal interests. However, it is not uncommon, particularly amongst those from collectivist cultures, for career choice to be motivated by a desire or need to fulfil parent expectations. Whether or not this motivation has longer term effects on the career satisfaction and performance of medical students is unknown.
Using three waves of survey data collection, applicants to medical school (n = 370) reported parent career expectations, parent career support and physician career values. Those who gained a student place (n = 90) reported attitudes to their career at the end of their first year of study. Burnout and intentions regarding practice location were assessed during the fifth and final year of study (n = 81). Examination marks in Years 1 and 5 assessed academic performance.
Those with more highly educated parents reported more support, but parent support had no relationship with students' academic performance or attitudes to their career. Perceived parent career expectation was higher amongst younger applicants and those from a non-Western background. Expectations had a small positive correlation with applicants' valuing of prestige and a small negative correlation with valuing service. Medical students with high parent expectation at selection had, a year later, more negative attitudes to medicine as a career. Parent expectation had a significant indirect effect on Year-5 burnout. Higher parent expectation was related to lower Year-5 academic grades, but after Year-1 grades were accounted for, this relationship was no longer significant.
Medical students who perceive that their parents expect them to choose a prestigious career in line with family or cultural values may be more ambivalent about their career choice once in medical school. They may also be more likely to experience longer term burnout but there was little evidence that they might have lower academic performance.
成为医生的动机通常被认为源于个人兴趣。然而，尤其是在那些集体主义文化背景下的人，出于满足父母期望的愿望或需求而选择职业的情况并不少见。这种动机是否会对医学生的职业满意度和表现产生长期影响尚不清楚。
通过三波调查数据收集，医学院申请者（n=370）报告了父母的职业期望、父母的职业支持和医生职业价值观。获得学生名额的人（n=90）报告了他们在第一学年结束时对自己职业的态度。在第五学年（n=81），评估了倦怠和实践地点意向。第 1 年和第 5 年的考试成绩评估了学业成绩。
父母受教育程度较高的学生报告了更多的支持，但父母的支持与学生的学业成绩或对职业的态度没有关系。感知到的父母职业期望在年轻申请者和非西方背景的申请者中更高。期望与申请者对威望的重视呈正相关，与对服务的重视呈负相关。在选拔时父母期望较高的医学生，一年后对医学作为职业的态度更为消极。父母期望对第 5 年的倦怠有显著的间接影响。父母期望越高，第 5 年的学业成绩越低，但在考虑到第 1 年的成绩后，这种关系不再显著。
那些认为父母期望他们选择符合家庭或文化价值观的有声望的职业的医学生，一旦进入医学院，可能对自己的职业选择感到更加矛盾。他们也可能更容易出现长期的倦怠，但几乎没有证据表明他们的学业成绩可能较低。
