Analysis of personality traits of the contemporary dental student.

The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Study of Values (AVL) and the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) were administered to four classes of students upon their matriculation into dental school and readministered during each year until graduation. Over the four years, scores on the economic and political scales of the AVL increased significantly but decreased significantly on the social scale. Female students were more aesthetic than males and less politically inclined. On the MBTI, scores remained relatively stable over the entire four years. However, females were significantly more intuitive and more feeling than males. In general, this sample of dental students, who graduated in 1979, 1980, 1981, and 1982, was quite similar in personality to samples of dental students of the early 1960s.