Autistic Traits, STEM, and Medicine: Autism Spectrum Quotient Scores Predict Medical Students' Career Specialty Preferences

Autor/inn/en	Turner, Emma; Aitken, Emma; Richards, Gareth
Titel	Autistic Traits, STEM, and Medicine: Autism Spectrum Quotient Scores Predict Medical Students' Career Specialty Preferences
Quelle	In: SAGE Open, 11 (2021) 4, (12 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Richards, Gareth)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	2158-2440
DOI	10.1177/21582440211050389
Schlagwörter	Autism; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Symptoms (Individual Disorders); STEM Education; Medicine; Scores; Medical Students; Foreign Countries; Medical Education; Online Surveys; Student Surveys; Occupational Aspiration; Career Choice; Predictor Variables; United Kingdom + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Autismus; Psychiatrische Symptomatik; STEM; Medizin; Ausland; Medizinische Ausbildung; Schülerbefragung; Berufsneigung; Berufsziel; Prädiktor; Großbritannien
Abstract	There is a higher than chance representation of autistic people and people with elevated autistic traits in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries. Medical students, despite studying a STEM subject, have lower autistic traits than other STEM students. Medicine is heterogenous, covering technique-oriented specialties (e.g., surgery) with little patient interaction, person-oriented specialties (e.g., pediatrics), and general practice. We present an online survey in which 502 UK university students (medicine, n = 344; STEM, n = 94; non-STEM, n = 64) reported their study area and career aspirations and completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a quantitative self-report measure of autistic traits. Our main findings were that medical students had significantly lower AQ scores than other STEM (p < 0.001, d = 0.614) and non-STEM students (p < 0.001, d = 0.874), and that medical students aiming to pursue technique-focused career paths had significantly higher AQ scores than medical students aiming to pursue person-oriented career paths (p = 0.009, d = 0.318). Each of these effects remained statistically significant after adjusting for alpha inflation. The findings of this study corroborate those of previous research reporting a link between autism and STEM; they also provide evidence that autistic traits are a predictor of medical students' career ambitions, with those students with high AQ scores being more likely to pursue technique-focused (as opposed to person-focused) roles. This may be informative for developing and optimizing the strengths of individuals with differing levels of autistic traits. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01