Helping and achieving. Compatible or competing goals for men and women in medical school?

This study investigates the attitudes of medical students toward oncology and examines the help- and achievement-orientations of males and females to ascertain whether these orientations are gender-related. Ninety freshmen, 125 sophomores, 83 juniors, and 87 senior medical students responded to questionnaires assessing their attitudes. Female students were both more help- and achievement-oriented than were the male students. Helping and achieving were compatible goals for these women. Both male and female students were significantly more help-oriented by their senior year but they also felt significantly less effective in helping than did students in the first 3 years.