How the personalities of medical students at the National University of Singapore differ from the local non-medical undergraduate population: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Integrity and willingness to contribute to society are desired traits of medical students beyond academic excellence. We investigated the personality traits of medical students at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, as they were about to become doctors. Personality traits were compared with a peer population of local university students.

METHODS: This study was conducted between October 2013 and December 2014. Year 4 medical students were administered the Revised NEO (Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness) Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), a 240-item Likert scale personality test. Test data was analysed by an institutional psychologist and compared to a separate sample of 377 non-medical students, who were peers at the same university taking psychology as a module. Data was collated and analysed.

RESULTS: 65 year 4 medical students completed the NEO PI-R personality test. The personalities of year 4 medical students at NUS differed from their peers in all domains except for openness. NUS medical students generally had less neuroticism, were more extroverted and agreeable, and had more conscientiousness than their peers.

CONCLUSION: Personality testing of NUS year 4 medical students showed many of the desired traits of a doctor when compared to their peers at the same university.