Students' personality and ratings of clinical competence in medical school clerkships: a longitudinal study

Abstract

This study was designed to examine the associations between students' personality and assessments of their clinical competence in medical school. A set of questionnaires was completed by 1710 medical students to measure their self-esteem, sociability, loneliness, general anxiety, test anxiety, neuroticism (emotionality), perceptions of early relationships with parents, and general health. Students were divided into three groups of the low, moderate, and high competent based on the number of 'Honours' ratings they received in core clinical clerkships during the third year of medical school. Multivariate statistical analyses showed that the low competent students scored significantly lower on the self-esteem and sociability, but higher on the loneliness scale. The low competent students also perceived their early relationships with their parents as less satisfactory. Findings suggest that medical students' clinical competence assessments are associated with some aspects of their personality and with perceptions of early relationships with their parents. Findings have implications for the development of educational remedies and counseling strategies.

Personality assessments and outcomes in medical education and the practice of medicine: AMEE Guide No. 79

“…appraisal of stressful life events, general anxiety and test anxiety, external locus of control, intensity and chronicity of loneliness experiences, extraversion, self-esteem, perceptions of early relationships with parents and peers and measures of over-or underconfidence) could significantly predict performance on medical licensing examinations (Hojat et al 1988). Also, we found that higher scores on measures of self-esteem and extraversion, lower scores on loneliness, and perceptions of satisfactory relationship with parents in childhood (Hojat et al 2004a) could predict global ratings of clinical competence in core clerkships in medical school. Furthermore, inclusion of a set of the aforementioned personality measures to the prediction model could substantially increase (from 0.32 to 0.56) the magnitude of correlations between academic attainment predictors already in the statistical model ( previous academic grades and scores of the Medical College Admission Test, the MCAT) and the criterion measure (scores on Part 1 of the examinations of the National Board of Medical Examiners) (Hojat et al 1988).…”

“…In a study with students at Jefferson Medical College (Fenderson et al 1999), it was found that students in the top 20% of the class who declined an invitation to participate in an honors program in pathology scored higher on the Neuroticism scale of the EPQ. In another study, we found that medical students who received lower marks on clinical competence were more likely to score lower on the Extraversion scale of the EPQ (Hojat et al 2004a). It was also found that those who were in the top half of their class in clinical competence evaluations scored significantly lower on the Neuroticism scale of the EPQ (Hojat et al 1996a).…”

“…Also, research findings suggest that sociability, a prominent feature of the Extraversion factor, is an important mediating variable in the clinical performance of medical students (Ferguson et al 2003;McManus et al 2004;Hojat et al 2004a;Knights & Kennedy 2007;Tyssen et al 2007;Lievens et al 2009). However, their results on the Extraversion factor are less consistent in the preclinical than clinical phases of medical education (Piedmont et al 1991;Lievens et al 2002).…”

Personality factors and medical training: a review of the literature

“…Multiple estimates of personality were employed by Hojat et al. 33 Their study was conducted with 1710 students attending Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, USA over nine intake years. They used abridged versions of six personality measures; the rationales and associated psychometrics for the use of these abridged versions in medical students and other health profession students had been reported previously 34 .…”

Peer Review #1 of "Temperament and character profiles of medical students associated with tolerance of ambiguity and perfectionism (v0.1)"

“…Comprehensive reviews have recognised personality as an influencing factor on many aspects of medical students' successful and healthy progression through medical training [7,8] . The literature is clear that certain personality traits can influence or predict various aspects of academic performance, [9][10][11][12][13] including subsequent performance in postgraduate training, [14] subclinical competence, [15,16] expression of empathy, [17,18] subjective well-being, [19,20] mental toughness, [21] attitudes to work, burnout and stress, [5] and career interests [22][23][24] .…”