Personality Traits and Potential Career Choices Among Medical Students at Sultan Qaboos University: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Personality plays a vital role in choosing a medical specialty. Despite this, research is scarce on this subject, especially in Oman. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the personality traits of medical students at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Muscat, Oman, and the specialty they wished to undertake after graduation. Methods This was a cross-sectional study. Two hundred and thirty-four medical students completed the Big Five personality questionnaire and were asked what specialty they would like to choose. The specialties were divided into three namely, surgical-oriented, medicine-oriented, and basic medicine. An ANOVA test was used to find any statistically significant correlation between personality traits and the desired specialty. Results The students who chose surgery-oriented specialties had significantly higher scores in the extraversion and openness means (P<0.05) than the students who opted for medicine-oriented specialties and basic medicine. The students who chose basic medicine had significantly higher scores in the neuroticism means (P<0.05) than the other groups. Conclusion The students who chose surgery-oriented specialties were more likely to be highly extraverted and open, while the medical students who chose basic medicine were more likely to have higher neuroticism levels when compared with the other groups. This study indicates that there is a correlation between personality traits and desired specialty. Further studies should be done to investigate if these personality traits remained similar after graduation.