title: Predicting the educational performance of Isfahan University students of medical sciences based on their behaviour profile, mental health and demographic characteristic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The issue of students' academic failure is one of the most important educational, economic, and social issues. Cognizance of the factors related to academic downfall is so efficient in its prevention and control and leads to protecting governmental assets and labor force. In order to achieve this goal, this study intends to determine the predictive factors of the students' academic performance in Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in terms of their personality profile, mental health, and their demographic characteristics.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a descriptive-correlation study on 771 students who entered Isfahan University of Medical Sciences between 2005 and 2007. The information was gathered through using the students' educational and clinical files (for measuring personality characteristics and mental health) and SAMA Software (To get the mean scores). Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory short form and General Health Questionnaire were used for collecting clinical data. The data were analyzed using SPSS 15 (stepwise regression coefficient, variance analysis, Student's t-test, and Spearman correlation coefficient).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results showed that the aforementioned students obtained a normal average for their personality profile and mental health indicators. Of all the reviewed variables, education, age, gender, depression, and hypochondria were the predictive factors of the students' educational performance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It could be concluded that some of the personality features, mental health indicators, and personality profile play such a significant role in the students' educational life that the disorder in any of them affects the students' educational performance and academic failure.
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Rahele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Samouei
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Isfahan (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Maryam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fooladvand
authors.affiliation: Social Determinants of Health Research Center, School of Management and Medical Information, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Shahla
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Janghorban
authors.affiliation: Department of Foreign Languages, Islamic Azad University Isfahan, (Khorasgan) Branch, Isfahan, Iran.
authors.forename: Fariba
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Khorvash
keywords: Educational performance; mental health; personality profile