Few gender differences in specialty preferences and motivational factors: a cross-sectional Swedish study on last-year medical students

Table 4 Motivational factors associated with specialty preference

		Women		Men
		N = 214		N = 154
		OR	p	OR	p
Surgical specialties	Combining work with family	0.4 (0.3–0.6)	.000	0.4 (0.3–0.7)	.000
	Good salary^a	1.9 (1.2–3.0)	.004	0.8 (0.5–1.3)	NS
	In line with technical skills	1.4 (1.0–1.9)	.034	1.9 (1.2–3.0)	.011
	Lots of direct patient contact	0.9 (0.6–1.3)	NS	0.6 (0.4–0.9)	.018
Non-surgical specialties	Research opportunities	1.4 (1.0–1.9)	.023	1.9 (1.3–2.9)	.001
	Good salary	0.4 (0.2–0.6)	.000	0.8 (0.5–1.3)	NS
	Interesting content	2.4 (1.0–5.5)	.048	1.7 (0.8–3.9)	NS
Family medicine	Lots of direct patient contact	3.7 (1.8–7.9)	.001	2.9 (1.4–6.0)	.005
	Career prospects^a	0.4 (0.2–0.7)	.002	0.8 (0.4–1.5)	NS
	Combining work with family	2.3 (1.3–4.2)	.004	1.6 (0.9 –2.9)	NS
	Good salary	1.9 (1.1–3.3)	.018	1.7 (0.9–3.2)	NS
	Interesting content	0.4 (0.2–0.9)	.024	0.8 (0.4–1.9)	NS
	In line with technical skills	0.6 (0.4–1.0)	.045	0.7 (0.5–1.2)	NS
	Research opportunities	0.8 (0.6–1.3)	NS	0.6 (0.4–1.0)	.031
Uncertain	Combining work with family	2.1 (1.5–3.1)	.000	1.8 (1.2–2.7)	.005
	Lots of direct patient contact	0.6 (0.4–0.8)	.003	1.0 (0.7–1.5)	NS

Note: Specialty preference (outcome) = modeling the probability of choosing it (not choosing it = ref.). Mediators = motivational factors (probability of choosing a specialty preference). OR = odds ratio (95% CI = confidence interval). Significance was set at p < .05. NS = not significant. p < .05 in bold. ^aSignificant interaction term with gender in separate analyses on each motivational factor.

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