Korean J Med Educ.  1998 Nov;10(2):323-335.

Reviews on the Psychological Variables Concerning the Successful Adjustment in Medical Colleges

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Psychiatry, Ulsan University College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center.
  • 2Department of Nephrology, Ulsan University College of Medicine, Asan Medical Center.

Abstract

In this article, we critically reviewed various literatures on stress and adjustment in medical schools as a preliminary work for the future empirical study. We adopted Biopsychosocial Model as the frame of reference, which considers not only the relationship between stressor and psychological distress, but also their interaction with moderating variables such as psychosocial resources and vulnerabilities. According to the model, three important aspects of medical school stress were reviewed: 1) the types of medical school stresses, 2) the adverse effects of stressors on the adjustment such as depression, anxiety, physical symptoms, drug abuse, eating problem, attrition, change of attitude and personality, etc, 3) the moderating effects of various vulnerabilities and resources including Type A behavior pattern, masculinity/femininity, locus of control, optimism, anger expression, coping style, social support, and study skills on the suppression or development of psychological distress. Investigating the moderating variables in particular may have great clinical implications since these variables are closely related to the psychological factors concerning successful adjustment in medical school.
Conclusions
drawn from this review suggests several directions of future research. First, a comprehensive study which covers the whole process of medical school stress is recommended. Longitudinal design will be more suitable for dealing with the developmental features of medical education. Finally, the severity of medical school stress must be compared with the stress of general colleges and other professional graduate schools. This article is expected to provide some theoretical basis for future studies regarding the successful adjustment in the medical school, the development of preventive intervention programs and the reform of medical education systems.

Keyword

Successful adjustment; Biopsychosocial model; Medical school stress; Distress; Vulnerability; Psychosocial resources

MeSH Terms

Anger
Anxiety
Depression
Eating
Education, Medical
Humans
Internal-External Control
Psychology
Schools, Medical
Substance-Related Disorders
Test Taking Skills
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