Impact of parental status on US medical student specialty selection

• Published in: Archives of women's mental health Vol. 26; no. 6; pp. 785 - 791
• Main Authors: Morrison, Georgia Mae, Di Cocco, Bianca L., Goldberg, Rebecca, Calderwood, Audrey H., Schulman, Allison R., Enestvedt, Brintha, Yu, Jessica X.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.12.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bone surgery; Emergency medical care; Gynecology; Medical students; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Neural plasticity; Neurosurgery; Obstetrics; Original Article; Parents & parenting; Pediatrics; Psychiatry; Psychotherapy; Quality of life; Surgery; Womens health; United States > US; Parenting; Specialty choice; Medical education; Gender equity; Diversity and inclusion
• ISSN: 1434-1816; 1435-1102
• DOI: 10.1007/s00737-023-01366-5

Medical training occurs during peak childbearing years for most medical students. Many factors influence specialty selection. The aims of this study were (i) to determine whether being a parent is a major deciding factor when picking a specialty and (ii) whether parents are more drawn to family-friendly specialties than non-parents. The authors performed a multicenter web-based survey study of medical students enrolled in Oregon Health and Science University, Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine, and University of Michigan Medical School. The 27-item instrument assessed parenthood status, specialty preference, specialty perceptions, and factors influencing specialty choice. A total of 537 out of 2236 (24.0%) students responded. Among respondents, 59 (10.9%) were current or expecting parents. The majority (359, 66.8%) were female and 24–35 years old (430, 80.1%). Of the students who were parents or expecting, 30 (50.9%) were female, and the majority (55, 93.2%) were partnered. Top specialties preferred by both parents and non-parents were family medicine, emergency medicine, obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), internal medicine, psychiatry, and pediatrics. Specialties rated most family-friendly included family medicine, dermatology, pediatrics, psychiatry, radiology, emergency medicine, and pathology. The specialties rated least family-friendly were surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, plastic surgery, and OB/GYN. These rankings were the same between groups. Passion for the field, culture of the specialty, and quality of life were the top three factors students considered when choosing a specialty. Being a parent or future parent ranked more highly for parents than non-parents, but was not in the top three factors for either group. US Medical School parents report that being a parent influenced their medical specialty choice “strongly” or “very strongly.” However, being a parent was not weighed as heavily as passion for the field, culture of the specialty, and quality of life. These student-parents are entering perceived “non-family friendly” specialties at similar rates as their peers. US Medical school training and simultaneous parenting is daunting, yet student parents are putting their passion first when making a career choice. They must be supported.