IS MEDICAL SCHOOL A MIND CHANGER? A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF STUDENT’S PERSONALITY TRAITS

Objective To determine the effect of six years of Medical School in self-perceived personality traits of medical students. Method Longitudinal study: 70 students from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Coimbra, Portugal, filled Revised NEO Personality Inventory at first and sixth year of Medical School. Changes in personality domains and facets from year 1 to year 6 were calculated. Results There were significant changes in the average personality profile of these medical students after Medical School. Neuroticism decreased significantly. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness suffered small but significant decrease. This includes significant decreases in the average scores for the facets Anxiety (p < .01), Depression (p < .05), Vulnerability (p < .05), Altruism (p < .05) and Modesty (p < .05). Self-discipline facet recorded a significant increase (p < .05). Conclusions Students’ decrease in their self-assessment of Anxiety, Depression and Vulnerability indicates they may perceive themselves as more stable, confident, hopeful and resilient in the end of the academic course. Their increase in Self-Discipline may point to an increase confidence in their ability to continuously update the knowledge they received in order to provide always the best for their patients. However, their self-assessment decrease in personality’s facets Altruism and Modesty could be concerning - these findings could suggest that medical students may have developed a more arrogant and overrated vision of themselves, and also that they may have become more reluctant to get involved with others’ problems. Given the results we can conclude medical school influences students’ personality traits’ evolution.