The authors review the literature on and systematize the factors
influencing medical students' choice of psychiatry as a specialty. The
results indicate that students who are single, from large metropolitan
areas, uninterested in religion, politically liberal, interested in
humanitarian ideas, who score low in authoritarianism, have a high capacity
to tolerate ambiguity, have a high level of anxiety and fear of death, and
have low self-esteem are likely to choose psychiatry. In medical school,
the students likely to choose psychiatry have a lower class rank and
express positive attitudes toward psychiatry and psychiatrists. Exposure to
and taking responsiblity for patients, especially patients with good
prognoses, are crucial factors encouraging students to be
psychiatrists.
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