Myers-Briggs type and medical specialty choice: A new look at an old question

Background: Career development of health professionals is one of many uses of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), with many studies reported from the 1950s. Since 1977 no large-scale effort to collect data on the medical scho ol population has been reported. Purpose: To determine (a) changes in MBTI profiles of medical students over time, (b) differences between the profiles of men and women and the effect s of the increased number of women in medical school, (c)possible associati ons between type and career choices, and (d) possible type differences of g raduates selecting primary care and specialties. Method: Twelve U.S. schools with data on 3,987 students contributed to a da tabase of their graduates' MBTI type and specialty choice at Match. Results: Compared with data from the 1950s, the type distribution of physic ians has remained fairly stable, save for a trend toward more judging types . Women in medicine today are more representative of the general population on the feeling dimension than earlier, when medicine was more male-dominat ed. Women are more likely than men to choose primary care specialties, as a re those with preference for introversion and feeling. Feeling types choose Family Medicine significantly more often than thinking types; male, extrav erted, and thinking types choose surgical specialties. Of those selecting n onprimary care, male, extraverted, and thinking types choose surgical speci alties significantly more than women, introverted and feeling types. Conclusion: Type remains useful for understanding how some aspects of perso nality relate to medical specialty choice.