DO PERSONALITY FACTORS DETERMINE THE CHOICE OF PROFESSION? AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY OF FEMALE NURSING AND FEMALE MEDICAL STUDENTS.

Medical profession and nursing profession are noble professions. Both professions place heavy emphasis on desirable personality traits of being affectionate, humble and responsible. Personal qualities such as integrity, responsibility and empathy have often been mentioned in the literature as desirable qualities for these professions. The present study was planned to explore these personal attributes. Sample for the study consisted of 26 female medical students of first year MBBS and 29 female nursing students of first year B.Sc. Nursing course. The subjects were matched for age and sex. Personality profile was evaluated by administering 16 Personality Factor Form A. Findings revealed significant differences on factor 'A', 'F', 'H' and 'M'. On second order factors significant differences were noted on introversion-extroversion and independence-subduedness dimension.