Personality Factors and Occupational Specialty Choice.

This study is a continuation of an earlier investigation of personality and medical specialty choice. The earlier study determined that personality differences existed among family practitioners, anesthesiologists, and general surgeons. Based on this initial research, an attempt was made to answer the question of how the personality factors of premedical students who later chose the medical specialty of family practice compared to the personality factors of current family practitioners. The student group consisted of 75 premedical students who chose the medical specialty of family practice. The physician group consisted of 58 family practice physicians. Analysis revealed that the personality profiles for both premedical students who chose family practice and for family practitioners were within the average range on all 16 factors except for Reasoning. Family practitioners are more abstract than concrete in their reasoning abilities. Premedical students fell within the average range for Reasoning and are thus more closely related than the family practitioners to the general population norm group. The results lend support for linking personality and medical specialty choice. Information about personality and medical specialty could be integrated into career development courses for premedical students and used as a mechanism for improving professional identity. (JDM)