PERFORMANCE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL AS A FUNCTION OF SELECTED COGNITIVE AND NONCOGNITIVE VARIABLES (PREDICTORS, SUCCESS)
Abstract
This study employed questionnaire data collected from medical students entering Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University since 1968 to investigate the relationships among selected student characteristics and indices of success in medical studies and clinical performance. Age of initial interest in medicine and age in which career choice was made, motivational factors toward medical school and the medical profession, study habits and skills, undergraduate major, specialty interest, and sex were treated as independent variables in this study. The performance of the students was measured by yearly grade-point-averages (freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior), scores on the National Board Examinations (Parts I, II, and III), and ratings on four areas of postgraduate competence (medical knowledge, data gathering skills, clinical judgment, and professional attitudes) measured by a postgraduate rating form at the end of the first postgraduate year. The data were subjected to a multivariate analysis of variance, multiple regression analysis, and multiple discriminant function analysis. A partial report of the findings of the study may be summarized as follows: (1) There was a significant relationship between age of career choice and academic performance in medical school, but no relationships among age of career choice and measures of postgraduate competence were found. (2) Motivational aspects of medical career were highly related to academic performance but not to postgraduate performance. (3) There was no significant difference among students with different types of undergraduate backgrounds (science, social sciences and humanities) in academic and clinical performance. (4) Specialty interest was significantly related to academic performance. Students with higher achievement preferred internal medicine, family practice, and pediatrics. (5) Males and females differ in their pattern of specialty interest, with males entering internal medicine, family practice, and surgery while females selected internal medicine, pediatrics, and family practice. (6) Males performed significantly better than females in freshman grade-point-average, on all three parts of the National Board Examinations, and on the competence area of medical knowledge measured by the postgraduate rating form.
Degree
Ph.D.
Subject Area
School administration
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