title: Academic and personality correlates of career indecision in medical students entering training.
abstract: The academic and personality correlates of medical career indecision were investigated in two separate studies. In the first, the effect of career indecision on academic performance was examined in a group of ninety-eight (eighty male, eighteen female) medical students entering Texas Tech University School of Medicine over a 2-year period. These medical students voluntarily completed the Medical Specialty Preference Inventory (MSPI) as part of a routine preadmission test battery. Subjects were assigned to one of three conditions-decided, high-interest undecided and low-interest undecided--based on results from the MSPI. As predicted, 'low-interest undecided' students achieved significantly lower initial medical school grades relative to 'decided' students, whereas 'high-interest undecided' students did not differ from the 'decided' students. The second study investigated the influence of career indecision upon personality. Subjects for this study were eighty-eight (sixty-six male, twenty-two female) medical students entering Texas Tech University School of Medicine over a 1-year period. These students voluntarily completed the MSPI and several personality measures as part of a pre-admission test battery. The results only partially supported the stated hypotheses. Although 'low-interest undecided' students demonstrated less personal integration compared with 'decided' students, they were no more anxious.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002321:Career Choice; D004504:Education, Medical, Undergraduate; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008511:Medicine; D010551:Personality; D010555:Personality Inventory; D013038:Specialization; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D013781:Texas