Specialty choices of postgraduate medical students: Are they related to the kind of animal identified with oneself.

Background: Research has pointed to a possible role of certain personality attributes in the choice of medical specialties, but not much is known about the Indian setting. Furthermore, most personality assessments are quite lengthy and time-consuming. Objective: The study aimed to explore if the specialty choices of Indian postgraduate students are related to their personality attributes, using a brief projective animal question. Methods: The study was carried out as a retrospective survey (n=450) of responses to a projective question, in which students were asked to name the animal they identified themselves with the most and their reasons. Results: Mean age was 25.46±1.94 years (Males: 71.8% males; females: 28.2%). Reasons for identification with the stated animal were categorized as aggressive 11.8%, autonomous 40%, nurturing 30.4% and aesthetic 17.8%. Technology-oriented specialties were associated with aggressive/ autonomous responses (p<0.01), while pre/paraclinical specialties were associated with nurturing/aesthetic responses (p<0.01). Females had twice the odds (OR: 1.86) of choosing a personoriented clinical specialty over a technology-oriented specialty. Conclusion: Research in this direction is needed to assist the career counseling of medical students.