Incidence of “Stress Syndrome” or Type A Personality in Medical Students

Abstract

Objective: 1. To assess the frequency of type A personality in medical students

1. To compare different personality types of medical students from 1st to final year.

Study Design: A cross sectional study.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Department of Community Medicine, SMC, DUHS, Karachi from 15th, May to 25th, November 2010.

Materials and Methods: A sample size of 140 students was drawn by using systemic random sampling; every 22nd student from each year was selected according to the roll numbers from first year to final year in Sindh, Dow Medical College and Karachi. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire.

Three personalities (Type A, Type AB, Type B)

        Personality Types                     Scores

• Type B   0 – 35
• Type AB 36 – 45
• Type A 46 – 80

Results: Out of 140 students, 42 were males, 69 were females. The results showed Type A personality was 82.9%, Type AB 16.4%, TYPE B was 0.7%. Students having type A personality in first year were 92.85%, in second year 100%, in third year 46.4%, in fourth year 85.7%, in final year 89.2%.Type A personality in males were found to be  92.30% as compared to females 83.67%.Students who took their task very seriously 45%, easily got Irritated 51.4%, Restless during studies 32.1%, dissatisfied with task performed 49.3%, Work conscious 43.6%.On the basis of these results majority of the medical students fall in the category of type A personality , surprisingly 100% students of 2nd year fall in type A category.

Conclusion: The study proved major population of medical students had Type A personality which showed they were tensed, impatience, aggressiveness, time conscious, concerned about their studies, highly competitive, ambitious, vulnerable to stress related diseases.