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Achievement levels and mental health in medical students: a Monash University study
Author(s) -
BRAZENOR G. A.,
MASTERTON J. P.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1980.tb02380.x
Subject(s) - psychology , set (abstract data type) , mental health , gratification , medical education , adaptation (eye) , clinical psychology , applied psychology , social psychology , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience , computer science , programming language
Summary An extensive battery of multi‐choice psychology tests was administered to Monash University medical students in 1975. Respondents were classified by sex, year and achievement level. Significant differences in parameters of psychological adaptation were detected when students in the three different achievement groups were compared. In general, the low achievers were more depressed and anxious, and less extroverted and empathic than their colleagues. In addition, their own assessment of their mental health was lower than that of their colleagues. They also tended to study less actively, were more prone to avoid the study of core material and derived less gratification overall from the medical course. It is suggested that underachieve‐ment in medical students is a danger signal connoting psychological difficulties and that under‐achievers constitute a potentially under‐counselled group. Counselling facilities should be sufficiently comprehensive to deal with the problems outlined as it is unlikely that this particular set of observations is unique to the group studied who happened to be medical students. The lesson is there for all faculties.