The associations of temperament, character, anxiety, and specialty choice among sixth-year medical students: a cross-sectional study

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effects of anxiety, temperament, and character dimensions on the preferences of final-year medical students for postgraduate education. Method: Participants were 161 students in a sixth-year medical class. The primary outcome variables of the study were the preferred main specialty category and branch. Independent study variables were age, gender, perception of the economic situation, place of birth, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and Temperament and Character Inventory scores. Results for 151 participants were analyzed. Results: The mean (+/- SD) age of the participants was 23.66 +/- 1.18 years, and 57.6% (n=87) were females. The participants stated that they would choose mostly internal (64.2%, n=97) and surgical (35.1%, n=53) disciplines, while the basic sciences were the least favored (0.7%, n=1). The most popular specialties were psychiatry (9.9%, n=15), orthopedics and traumatology (8.6%, n=13), and physical therapy and rehabilitation (8.6%, n=13). There was no significant difference between state (chi(2)=1.93, p=0.382) and trait (chi(2)=2.31, p=0.315) anxiety levels and the specialty category selections. Harm avoidance (HA), fear of uncertainty (HA2), shyness (HA3), fatigability (HA4), and sentimentality (RD1) scores of students opting for internal medicine were statistically higher than scores for surgical sciences (p<0.05). In addition, the resourcefulness (SD3) scores of the aspiring internists were statistically lower than scores for surgery (p<0.05). Conclusion: Temperament and character have some degree of influence on the choice of specialty, whereas anxiety was shown not to have such an impact. These findings may be helpful to medical educators or career counselors in the specialty choice of medical students.