| Title |
Effects of age, gender and educational background on strength of motivation for medical school
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Advances in Health Sciences Education, September 2009
|
| DOI | 10.1007/s10459-009-9198-7 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Rashmi Kusurkar, Cas Kruitwagen, Olle ten Cate, Gerda Croiset |
| Abstract |
The aim of this study was to determine the effects of selection, educational background, age and gender on strength of motivation to attend and pursue medical school. Graduate entry (GE) medical students (having Bachelor's degree in Life Sciences or related field) and Non-Graduate Entry (NGE) medical students (having only completed high school), were asked to fill out the Strength of Motivation for Medical School (SMMS) questionnaire at the start of medical school. The questionnaire measures the willingness of the medical students to pursue medical education even in the face of difficulty and sacrifice. GE students (59.64 ± 7.30) had higher strength of motivation as compared to NGE students (55.26 ± 8.33), so did females (57.05 ± 8.28) as compared to males (54.30 ± 8.08). 7.9% of the variance in the SMMS scores could be explained with the help of a linear regression model with age, gender and educational background/selection as predictor variables. Age was the single largest predictor. Maturity, taking developmental differences between sexes into account, was used as a predictor to correct for differences in the maturation of males and females. Still, the gender differences prevailed, though they were reduced. Pre-entrance educational background and selection also predicted the strength of motivation, but the effect of the two was confounded. Strength of motivation appears to be a dynamic entity, changing primarily with age and maturity and to a small extent with gender and experience. |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 147 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 2 | 1% |
| Portugal | 1 | <1% |
| Colombia | 1 | <1% |
| Ecuador | 1 | <1% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| Iran, Islamic Republic of | 1 | <1% |
| United States | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 139 | 95% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 23 | 16% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 14 | 10% |
| Researcher | 12 | 8% |
| Lecturer | 12 | 8% |
| Student > Bachelor | 11 | 7% |
| Other | 38 | 26% |
| Unknown | 37 | 25% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 49 | 33% |
| Social Sciences | 14 | 10% |
| Psychology | 9 | 6% |
| Arts and Humanities | 6 | 4% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 5 | 3% |
| Other | 23 | 16% |
| Unknown | 41 | 28% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 5. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 06 September 2013.
All research outputs
#5,862,627
of 22,719,618 outputs
Outputs from Advances in Health Sciences Education
#282
of 851 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#27,234
of 92,863 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Advances in Health Sciences Education
#4
of 13 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,719,618 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 73rd percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 851 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 65% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 92,863 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 70% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 13 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its contemporaries.