MORE WOMEN ENTER MEDICINE - YOUNG DOCTORS FAMILY ORIGIN AND CAREER CHOICE

This study is part of the Finnish Junior Physicians 88 Study, the purp ose of which was to shed light on the life situation, career choice an d future plans of young doctors and their views on medical education. The survey population included all the medical doctors registered duri ng the years 1977-1986 in Finland (n = 5208). A postal questionnaire w as sent to a sample of 2632 doctors born on odd-numbered days. After a reminder letter, 1745 questionnaires (66%) were returned. Forty-nine per cent of the respondents were women. Typically both men and women d octors had a father who was an upper-level white-collar worker and a m other who was a housewife. More men than women had a father who was a doctor or other health professional. More women than men mentioned tha t a lifelong calling (42% vs 30%), success at school (58% vs 47%) and an interest in helping people (78% vs 71%) had considerable influence on their decision to become a doctor. Men more often than women emphas ized the medical profession being regarded as a highly paid (56% vs 47 %) and a high status profession (64% vs 56%) and also that a family me mber was a doctor (15% vs 11%).