GENDER AND INTEREST IN ACADEMIC CAREERS AMONG FIRST-YEAR AND 3RD-YEARRESIDENTS

Background. While increasing proportions of medical students and resid ents are women, the proportion of women in the advanced ranks of medic ine remains small. This study describes gender differences among resid ents concerning interest in academic medicine and related influences. Method. A survey instrument was mailed to all 308 first- and third-yea r residents at the University of Washington School of Medicine in the late summer of 1993. The survey assessed interest in academic careers, values, psychological traits, exposure to mentoring, and perceived ro le stress. Frequency analysis and chi square analysis were performed t o compare the distribution responses by gender within the entire respo ndent group and within the first-year and third-year subgroups. Result s. A total of 180 (58%) of all first- and third-year residents respond ed; 99 (55%) were men. Although the level of interest in academic care ers was similar among first-year male and female residents, the level of interest was greater among third-year men than among third-year wom en. Women overall were less likely to consider it personally important to achieve national recognition, Women in the third (but not the firs t) year of residency were significantly less likely than men to agree that leading others was personally important to them. Women re ported feeling less confident, were less likely to have identified a faculty member who had successfully balanced career and personal life, and wer e significantly more likely to feel under stress and to have interrupt ed their careers for childbearing. Conclusion. The interest in academi c careers appeared to he lower among third-year female residents than among third-year male residents, despite the similar interests in acad emic medicine among male and female first-year residents. Increasing r ole stress among women in training may explain the reduced interest in leadership and academic careers among women at more advanced levels o f training.