Associations Between the Big Five Personality Traits and a Medical School Admission Interview

Authors

  • Isabel Lourinho Department of Medical Education and Simulation. Faculty of Medicine. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal.
  • André Moreira Immunology Department. Faculty of Medicine. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal.
  • Rui Mota-Cardoso Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Mental Health. Faculty of Medicine. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal.
  • Milton Severo Department of Medical Education and Simulation. Faculty of Medicine. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal. EPIUnit - Institute of Public Health. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal.
  • Maria Amélia Ferreira Department of Medical Education and Simulation. Faculty of Medicine. University of Porto. Porto. Portugal.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.20344/amp.8390

Keywords:

Interviews as Topic, Personality, Portugal, School Admission Criteria, Schools, Medical, Students, Medical/psychology

Abstract

Introduction: Personality has became popular in medical student’s selection. However, few research exists about the association between the big five personality traits and the existent medical school selection tools. Our aim was to study which personality traits were selected by a medical school admission interview.
Material and Methods: One hundred ninety four graduate applicants that had applied to the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto through the graduate entry approach, after ranked on previous achievement, were interviewed between the academic years of 2011 and 2013. From these, 181 (93.3%) answered to the NEO Five-Factor Inventory that assesses high order personality traits of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. Admission interview corresponded to the second phase of the seriation process. Every applicant was interviewed and scored by three interviewers on seven dimensions asesssed by Lickert scale (1-10). Interview score was the sum of the dimensions. Linear mixed effects model and respective regression coefficients were used to estimate the association between personality traits from each interviewer’s score. Final models were adjusted for gender, interviewers and previous achievement.
Results: Openness to experience (Beta = 0.18: CI 95%: 0.05; 0.30) had the strongest association with interview score followed by the interaction effect between the extraversion and conscientiousness traits (Beta = 0.14; CI 95%: 0.02; 0.25). Also, applicants scored higher when their gender was opposite to the interviewers.
Discussion: Previous achievement and interview score had no association.
Conclusion: Our admission interview selected different personality traits when compared to other selection tools. Medical schools should be aware of the implications of the adopted selection tools on the admitted medical student’s personality because it can help providing beneficial interventions.

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Published

2016-12-30

How to Cite

1.
Lourinho I, Moreira A, Mota-Cardoso R, Severo M, Ferreira MA. Associations Between the Big Five Personality Traits and a Medical School Admission Interview. Acta Med Port [Internet]. 2016 Dec. 30 [cited 2024 Mar. 28];29(12):796-802. Available from: https://actamedicaportuguesa.com/revista/index.php/amp/article/view/8390

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Original