ArticlePeerJ2019
Temperament and character profiles of medical students associated with tolerance of ambiguity and perfectionism.
Article in PeerJ, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 43 citations in OpenAlex.
- Research Involvement, Career Determinants, Study Experiences, and Personality Traits of Health-Care Students and Workers: The Research In-Depth Study Protocol.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Are Baseline Learning Approaches Associated with Cognitive Load, and Do They Moderate the Cognitive Effects of Contextual Vertical Integration? A Prespecified Secondary Analysis of the CONVINCED-OG Trial.Advances in medical education and practice · 2026Article
- Postgraduate GPs' experience of attending medical uncertainty training during the standardised training of residents: a qualitative process evaluation.BMC medical education · 2025Article
- Family physicians have greater ambiguity tolerance in the clinical context: A nationwide cross-sectional study.Journal of general and family medicine · 2025Article
- Visualizing the Human Body Using an Artistic Approach.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2023Article
- The Almost Perfect Scale in medical students: factor analysis, measurement invariance, and profile analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- A longitudinal cohort study observed increasing perfectionism and declining resilience, ambiguity tolerance and calling during medical school which is not explained by student personality.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Does medical school cause depression or do medical students already begin their studies depressed? A longitudinal study over the first semester about depression and influencing factors.GMS journal for medical education · 2022Article
- Externalizing personality characteristics define clinically relevant subgroups of alcohol use disorder.PloS one · 2022Article
- Towards a medical school curriculum for uncertainty in clinical practice.Medical education online · 2021Observational
- Highlighting a curricular need: Uncertainty, COVID-19, and health systems science.Health science reports · 2021Article
- Case Report: The Gold Standard: The Case for Inclusion of a Medical Student-Specific Counseling Center and Wellness Programming in Early Medical Education.Journal of clinical psychology in medical settings · 2021Article
- Ambiguity tolerance among medical students and its relationship with personality and participation in the mentoring program: A cross-sectional study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2021Article
- Contributions of Affective Temperament Traits to Professional Choice: Evidence from the Study of Firefighters, Musicians, Athletes, Bank Managers, Nurses and Paramedics.Psychology research and behavior management · 2021Article
- Students' Confidence and Interest in Palliative and Bereavement Care: A European Study.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
- Personality, Resilience, and Calling in Students Undertaking a Medical Degree Across Two Continents: Disparate Pathways to the Healing Profession.Ochsner journal · 2021Article
- The erosion of ambiguity tolerance and sustainment of perfectionism in undergraduate medical training: results from multiple samplings of a single cohort.BMC medical education · 2020Article
- Study of the Correlation Between Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Personality Using the Quick Environmental Exposure Sensitivity Inventory Questionnaire and the Temperament and Character Inventory.Journal of occupational and environmental medicine · 2020Article
- Need for cognitive closure, tolerance for ambiguity, and perfectionism in medical school applicants.BMC medical education · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCertain personal attributes, such as perfectionism and tolerance of ambiguity, have been identified as influential in high achieving students. Medical students have been identified as high achievers and perfectionistic, and as such may be challenged by ambiguity. Medical students undertake a long and challenging degree. Personality has been shown to influence the well-being and coping and may equip some students to better cope with challenges. This paper examines the association between temperament and character personality profiles with measures of tolerance of ambiguity and with both adaptive and maladaptive constructs of perfectionism.
methodsA self-report questionnaire collected data on a sample of 808 Australian medical students in 2014 and 2015. Personality was measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCIR-140) and classified traits as profiles using a latent class analysis. Two profiles were found. Profile 1 was characterized by low-average levels of Harm Avoidance, and high to very high levels of Persistence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness. Moderately-high levels of Harm Avoidance and high levels of Persistence, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness characterized Profile 2. Moderation regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between the personality profiles with levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity (MSAT-II), Perfectionism-Concern over Mistakes and Perfectionism-High Standards (FMPS), considering demographic characteristics.
resultsStudents with Profile 1 were higher in levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity, and Perfectionism-High Standards, and lower levels of Perfectionism-Concern over Mistakes compared to Profile 2. These findings remained statistically significant after adjusting for age and gender. A significant personality by age interaction on Tolerance of Ambiguity was found. While higher levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity were associated with older age overall, it remained low across age for students with a personality Profile 2.
conclusionsA particular combination of personality traits was identified to be associated with low Tolerance of Ambiguity and high levels of maladaptive Perfectionism. An intolerance of ambiguity and over concern about mistakes may be maladaptive and underlie vulnerability to stress and poor coping. The psychobiological model of personality provides insight into traits that are stable and those that can be self-regulated through education and training. The interaction between biological mechanisms and socio-cultural learning is relevant to a sample of medical students because it accounts for interaction of the biological or innate aspects of their personal development within an intense and competitive learning environment of medical school.
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