Myers-Briggs Type and Medical Specialty Choice: A New Look at an Old Question

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Abstract
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 school 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 effects of the increased number of women in medical school, (c) possible associations between type and career choices, and (d) possible type differences of graduates selecting primary care and specialties. Method: Twelve U.S. schools with data on 3,987 students contributed to a database of their graduates' MBTI type and specialty choice at Match. Results: Compared with data from the 1950s, the type distribution of physicians 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, whe...

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