Personality, Resilience, and Calling in Students Undertaking a Medical Degree Across Two Continents: Disparate Pathways to the Healing Profession

David Galarneau; Leonardo Seoane; Diann S. Eley

doi:10.31486/toj.20.0029

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Table 1.

Temperament and Character Trait Descriptors^a

Temperament Traits	Represents	Low Scores	to	High Scores
Novelty seeking	Exploratory activity in response to novelty	Orderly, reflective, tolerant, reserved	↔	Exploratory, curious, seeks challenge
Harm avoidance	Worry in anticipation of problems	Confident, accepting of uncertainty and risk	↔	Worrying, anxious, unable to accept risk
Reward dependence	Dependence on approval of others	Not influenced by others, objective, insensitive	↔	Needs to please, warm, attached
Persistence	Industriousness of behaviour despite obstacles	Quitting, underachiever, erratic, unambitious	↔	Ambitious, diligent, perfectionist
Character Traits	Represents	Low Scores	to	High Scores
Self-directedness	Responsibility, goal oriented, and self-confidence	Blaming, ineffective, unreliable	↔	Conscientious, reliable, self-accepted
Cooperativeness	Tolerance, cooperativeness, and empathy	Intolerant, unhelpful, opportunistic, critical	↔	Tolerant, agreeable, constructive, empathic
Self-transcendence	View of self in relation to the universe as a whole	Impatient, proud, materialistic, practical	↔	Patient, humble, spiritual, creative

↵^aAdapted from Eley et al, 2017⁴⁷

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Table 2.

Demographics by Student Group and Overall

Variable	Domestic Students n (%)	UQ-Ochsner Students n (%)	International Students n (%)	Total n (%)	P Value
Gender
Male	150 (65)	43 (57)	35 (50)	228 (61)
Female	80 (35)	32 (43)	35 (50)	147 (39)
Total	230	75	70	375	NS
Age group
<25 years	184 (82)	17 (23)	24 (37)	225 (62)
≥26 years	41 (18)	58 (77)	41 (63)	140 (38)	0.001
Total	225	75	65	365
Marital status
Partnered	31 (14)	12 (16)	8 (11)	51 (14)
Single	198 (86)	63 (84)	62 (89)	323 (86)
Total	229	75	70	374	NS
First degree
Science	189 (83)	48 (64)	58 (83)	295 (79)	0.001
Health science	14 (6)	7 (9)	6 (9)	27 (7)
Arts/law/humanities	8 (3)	17 (23)	5 (7)	30 (8)
Engineering/math	18 (8)	3 (4)	1 (1)	22 (6)
Total	229	75	70	374

Notes: Pearson chi-square comparisons were made across groups.
NS, not significant; UQ, University of Queensland.

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Table 3.

Analysis of Variance Comparing the Means and Standard Deviations of Personality Traits by Student Group

Trait	Student Group	n	Mean ± SD	95% CI for Mean	P Value
Novelty seeking^a	Domestic	230	2.70 ± 0.43	2.64-2.75
	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.82 ± 0.42	2.72-2.91
	International	70	2.70 ± 0.40	2.60-2.79
	Total	375	2.72 ± 0.42	2.68-2.76
Harm avoidance^a	Domestic	230	2.79 ± 0.71	2.70-2.88
	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.56 ± 0.66	2.41-2.71	0.039
	International	70	2.74 ± 0.65	2.59-2.90
	Total	375	2.74 ± 0.69	2.67-2.81
Reward dependence^a	Domestic	230	3.39 ± 0.53	3.33-3.46
	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.45 ± 0.60	3.31-3.59
	International	70	3.39 ± 0.46	3.28-3.50
	Total	375	3.40 ± 0.53	3.35-3.46
Persistence^a	Domestic	230	3.79 ± 0.56	3.72-3.86
	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.91 ± 0.47	3.80-4.02
	International	70	3.88 ± 0.51	3.76-4.01
	Total	375	3.83 ± 0.53	3.78-3.88
Self-directedness^a	Domestic	230	3.62 ± 0.59	3.55-3.70
	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.85 ± 0.55	3.73-3.98	0.005
	International	70	3.78 ± 0.54	3.65-3.90
	Total	375	3.70 ± 0.58	3.64-3.76
Cooperativeness^a	Domestic	230	4.03 ± 0.44	3.97-4.08
	UQ-Ochsner	75	4.07 ± 0.42	3.98-4.17
	International	70	4.12 ± 0.43	4.02-4.22
	Total	375	4.05 ± 0.43	4.01-4.10
Self-transcendence^a	Domestic	230	2.59 ± 0.62	2.51-2.67
	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.95 ± 0.65	2.80-3.10	0.001
	International	70	2.85 ± 0.58	2.71-2.99
	Total	375	2.71 ± 0.64	2.65-2.78
Resilience^b	Domestic	226	80.76 ± 10.39	79.40-82.12	0.004
	UQ-Ochsner	74	84.99 ± 8.60	82.99-86.98
	International	69	83.06 ± 9.68	80.74-85.39
	Total	369	82.04 ± 10.04	81.01-83.07
Calling^c	Domestic	226	7.16 ± 2.10	6.88-7.43
	UQ-Ochsner	74	8.24 ± 1.71	7.85-8.64	0.001
	International	69	8.52 ± 1.47	8.17-8.88
	Total	369	7.63 ± 2.01	7.43-7.84

Note: Only P values <0.05 are reported.
↵^aTemperament and Character Inventory means are calculated based on a Likert scale of 1 to 5: 1.00-1.50=very low, 1.51-2.50=low, 2.51-3.50=average, 3.51-4.50=high, and 4.51-5.00=very high.
↵^bResilience scores range from 14-98. Low scores are <65, moderate scores are 65-81, and high scores are >81.
↵^cCalling scores range from 2-10. Higher scores equate to a higher levels of calling.
UQ, The University of Queensland.

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Table 4.

Comparison of Personality Trait Means ± SDs for The University of Queensland (UQ)-Ochsner Students and All Others (Combined Scores of Domestic and International Students)

Trait	Student Group	n	Mean ± SD	95% CI for Mean	P value	Cohen d
Novelty seeking^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.82 ± 0.42	0.01 to 0.23	0.026	0.29
	All others	300	2.70 ± 0.42
Harm avoidance^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.56 ± 0.66	−0.40 to −0.05	0.011	0.33
	All others	300	2.78 ± 0.69
Reward dependence^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.45 ± 0.60	−0.08 to 0.19	0.414	0.11
	All others	300	3.39 ± 0.51
Persistence^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.91 ± 0.47	−0.04 to 0.23	0.159	0.19
	All others	300	3.81 ± 0.55
Self-directedness^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	3.85 ± 0.55	0.05 to 0.34	0.008	0.34
	All others	300	3.66 ± 0.58
Cooperativeness^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	4.07 ± 0.42	−0.09 to 0.13	0.667	0.04
	All others	300	4.05 ± 0.44
Self-transcendence^a	UQ-Ochsner	75	2.95 ± 0.65	0.14 to 0.45	0.001	0.46
	All others	300	2.65 ± 0.62
Resilience^b	UQ-Ochsner	74	84.99 ± 8.60	1.19 to 6.28	0.004	0.39
	All others	296	81.25 ± 10.27
Calling^c	UQ-Ochsner	74	8.24 ± 1.71	0.26 to 1.27	0.003	0.41
	All others	296	7.48 ± 2.05

Note: Cohen d values > 0.3 are considered moderate to strong.
↵^aTemperament and Character Inventory means are calculated based on a Likert scale of 1 to 5: 1.00-1.50=very low, 1.51-2.50=low, 2.51-3.50=average, 3.51-4.50=high, and 4.51-5.00=very high.
↵^bResilience scores range from 14-98. Low scores are <65, moderate scores are 65-81, and high scores are >81.
↵^cCalling scores range from 2-10. Higher scores equate to a higher levels of calling.