Unit of Development and Research in Medical Education (UDREM), University of Geneva, Medical School, 1 rue Michel Servet, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
Psychiatry Department, Unit of Forensic Psychiatry (IPL), Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Adv Health Sci Educ Theory Pract. 2023 Oct;28(4):1079-1092. doi: 10.1007/s10459-023-10205-2. Epub 2023 Feb 2.
Many medical schools incorporate assessments of personal characteristics, including personality traits, in their selection process. However, little is known about whether changes in personality traits during medical training affect the predictive validity of personality assessments. The present study addressed this issue by examining the stability of personality traits and their predictive validity over a 6-year medical training course. Participants were two cohorts of Swiss medical students (N = 272, 72% of students admitted to Year 2) from whom we collected demographic data, Swiss medical studies aptitude test (EMS) scores, Big Five personality traits scores measured at three times and scores on the multiple-choice and objective structured clinical examination parts of the final medical examination. Our findings indicated that personality traits had medium-to-high rank-order stability (r > .60 over 3 years and r > .50 over 6 years). Mean-level changes were moderate for agreeableness (d = + 0.72) and small for neuroticism and conscientiousness (d = -0.29, d = -0.25, respectively). Individual reliable change indices ranged from 4.5% for openness to 23.8% for neuroticism. The predictive validity was similar to that of the first three years of follow-up. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate changes in personality across undergraduate curriculum. Medical students' personality traits were mostly stable across medical school and retain their predictive validity. Consequently, this study supports the use of tools measuring constructs underlying personality traits in selection. In addition, this study confirms that examination formats could favor students with certain personality traits.
许多医学院在其选拔过程中纳入了对个人特征（包括人格特质）的评估。然而，人们对医学培训期间人格特质的变化是否会影响人格评估的预测有效性知之甚少。本研究通过考察人格特质的稳定性及其在 6 年医学培训课程中的预测有效性来解决这个问题。参与者是瑞士医学生的两个队列（N=272，占进入第 2 年的学生的 72%），我们从他们那里收集了人口统计学数据、瑞士医学学习能力测验（EMS）分数、三次测量的大五人格特质分数以及最终医学考试的多项选择和客观结构化临床考试部分的分数。我们的研究结果表明，人格特质具有中到高度的等级稳定性（在 3 年内 r >.60，在 6 年内 r >.50）。亲善性的平均水平变化较大（d=+0.72），神经质和尽责性的平均水平变化较小（d=-0.29，d=-0.25）。个体可靠变化指数范围从开放性的 4.5%到神经质的 23.8%。预测有效性与前三年的随访相似。据我们所知，这是第一个研究整个本科课程中人格变化的研究。医学生的人格特质在整个医学院期间大多保持稳定，并且保持其预测有效性。因此，这项研究支持在选拔中使用测量人格特质基础结构的工具。此外，这项研究证实，考试形式可能有利于具有某些人格特质的学生。
