Table 3

Factors influencing specialty preferences among medical students at Jordan University of Science and Technology according to gender.


Male (n = 280) n (%)
Female (n = 160) n (%)
Total N (%)
P-value *

Hours of practice
41 (14.6)
34 (21.3)
75 (17.0)
0.076
On-call schedule
29 (10.4)
32 (20.0)
61 (13.9)
0.005
Flexibility of specialty
127 (45.4)
57 (35.6)
184 (41.8)
0.046
Interaction with physicians
132 (47.1)
67 (41.9)
199 (45.2)
0.286
Specialty reputation
183 (65.4)
76 (47.5)
259 (58.9)
0.000
Duration of residency program
60 (21.4)
41 (25.6)
101 (23.0)
0.314
Work pressure
71 (25.4)
34 (21.3)
105 (23.9)
0.331
Interest in research
118 (42.1)
53 (33.1)
171 (38.9)
0.062
Interest in long term relations with patients
96 (34.3)
62 (38.8)
158 (35.9)
0.348
Physician-patient interaction
32 (11.4)
17 (10.6)
49 (11.1)
0.797
Diversity of patients
131 (46.8)
72 (45.0)
203 (46.1)
0.718
Anticipated income
183 (65.4)
72 (45.0)
255 (58.0)
0.000
Focus on community health
78 (27.9)
72 (45.0)
150 (34.1)
0.000
Focus on urgent care
163 (58.2)
78 (48.8)
241 (54.8)
0.055
Curriculum
102 (36.4)
68 (42.5)
170 (38.6)
0.208
Intellectual content of the specialty
239 (85.4)
132 (82.5)
371 (84.3)
0.428
Individual's competencies
185 (66.1)
96 (60.0)
281 (63.9)
0.202
Emulate a physician
119 (42.5)
65 (40.6)
184 (41.8)
0.701
Advice from faculty
31 (11.1)
18 (11.3)
49 (11.1)
0.954
Advice from friends
36 (12.9)
13 (8.1)
49 (11.1)
0.129
Advice from parents
93 (33.2)
60 (37.5)
153 (34.8)
0.364
Advice from practicing physicians
73 (26.1)
45 (28.1)
118 (26.8)
0.640

* Chi-square test for the difference between males and females

Khader et al. BMC Medical Education 2008 8:32   doi:10.1186/1472-6920-8-32