Professional socialization in dentistry. A longitudinal analysis of attitude changes among dental students towards the dental profession.

In a longitudinal study conducted as part of a broad project dealing with socialization of health professionals in Israel, it was observed that during the course of professional socialization several major transformations occur in the dental student's image of the 'competent' dentist and in his self-image as a professional. Although students initially emphasized people-oriented traits as important to the competent dentist, this emphasis gradually decreased as their professional socialization advanced, concomitant with an increase in importance placed on status-oriented traits. The people-oriented elements likewise decreased in importance with regard to the student's self-image as professionals as they became more accustomed to professional reality. The correlation between these variables indicates the changes occurring in the students' acceptance or rejection of various aspects of their chosen profession throughout their years of study.