The academic and health system requirements are constantly growing due to the continuous development of this sector. Therefore, it is important to investigate the structural factors that improve performance in the medical system. The aim of our pilot study is to analyze if there are associations or correlations between personality and motivation and the results obtained for the National Residency Exam of Romanian medical graduates. We conducted a prospective pilot study on 179 medical students from George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Targu Mures, Romania between February 2021 and December 2021, who were evaluated by the DECAS, IM, and SPM scale. Our results showed that all the dimensions of personality according to the Big Five Model, which include openness (OR = 0.392, p = 0.01), extraversion (OR = 0.512, p = 0.03), conscientiousness (OR = 3.671, p = 0.004), agreeableness (OR = 2.791, p = 0.07), and emotional stability (OR = 4.863, p = 0.0003), are statistically associated with the result obtained. Motivation also plays an important role in academic achievements, through motivational persistence and motivational involvement which correlates with the conscientiousness dimension and the result obtained. This study confirms that both personality structure and motivation are associated or correlated with the academic results of medical students and represent a starting point for future research.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the fast progression of modern society, occupational stress has recently reached alarming levels with consequences for doctors’ psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to analyze the relationship among emotional stability, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction of medical doctors. We conducted a cross-sectional study on 280 medical doctors from Romania between February 2021 and September 2021, in the period between the third and fourth pandemic waves, who were evaluated by the DECAS, ASSET, and Satisfaction with Life scales. Our results showed that emotional stability is negatively correlated with psychological well-being (r = −0.526, p < 0.000) and positively correlated with life satisfaction (r = 0.319, p < 0.0001). Between psychological well-being and life satisfaction, we found a negative correlation (r = −0.046, p < 0.001). This study shows that there is a correlation among emotional stability, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction, which is why it can be considered that Romanian doctors have generated coping mechanisms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Occupational stress amongst doctors has been intensively studied as doctors are exposed to several stress factors daily. The purpose of this study was to investigate if there are associations between personality dimensions and the factors that generate stress at work. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 280 medical doctors from Romania between February 2021 and September 2021 who were evaluated using the DECAS and ASSET Scales. Our results showed that the agreeableness and emotional stability dimensions of personality, according to the Big Five model, were statistically associated with work relationships (A p < 0.0001; ES p = 0.0005), work-life balance (A p = 0.008; ES p = 0.01), overload (A p = 0.01; ES p = 0.001), job security (A p < 0.0001; ES p = 0.002), job control (A p = 0.001; ES p = 0.009), resources and communication (A p = 0.0002; ES p < 0.0001), and job conditions (A p = 0.005; ES p = 0.03). The conscientiousness dimension was statistically associated with job control (p = 0.02). Doctors from different specialties experienced stress differently, with psychiatrists and doctors from preclinical specialties reporting the lowest levels of stress. Internists and surgeons reported higher levels of stress. This study showed that the dimensions of agreeableness and emotional stability were both associated with variables indicative of the level of stress felt at work.

The medical profession requires continuous knowledge acquisition, effective communication skills, an appropriate level of empathy, and a personality profile that can support high-quality patient care. (1) The purpose of this study was to research whether there are associations or correlations between personality dimensions, empathy, and the attitudes of medical students regarding the learning of communication skills. (2) We conducted a pilot study with 267 first- and sixth-year medical students from the George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Sciences, and Technology of Targu Mures as the subjects. The students were evaluated using the DECAS personality inventory, the Romanian communication skills ability scale, and Toronto empathy scale. (3) Our results showed that regarding the level of empathy (p = 0.09) and positive attitudes related to communication skills (p = 0.52), there were no statistically significant differences between first- and sixth-year medical students. On the other hand, in the case of negative attitudes, it was observed that there was a statistical significance (p = 0.0003). It was also observed that there was a positive association between agreeableness and empathy (OR = 6.12, p < 0.0001) and a negative association between emotional stability and empathy (OR = 0.45, p = 0.01). Correlations were also found between positive attitudes related to communication skills with patients and the personality dimensions of conscientiousness (r = 0.21, p = 0.0004) and agreeableness (r = 0.15, p = 0.01), as well as between negative attitudes related to communication skills with patients and the agreeableness dimension (r = −0.23, p = 0.0001) and emotional stability dimension (r = −0.13, p = 0.02). Furthermore, the two proposed models confirmed the influence that personality and empathy have on attitudes towards learning communication skills. (4) The findings of this study show that both the personality structure and the empathy of a student are linked to their attitudes about communication.

Background/Objectives: Emotional stability is a personality trait associated with emotion regulation and adaptation to stress. Low emotional stability has been associated with anxiety, depressive symptoms, and emotional eating, but the mechanisms underlying these relationships among medical students remain unclear. This study examined the association between emotional stability and emotional eating and explored indirect statistical associations involving anxiety and depressive symptoms using exploratory parallel and serial path analyses. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among 291 medical students. Emotional stability was assessed using the DECAS Personality Inventory, emotional eating using the DEBQ (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire), anxiety symptoms using the GAD-7 (Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), and depressive symptoms using the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9). Spearman correlations and exploratory parallel and serial path analyses were performed using the PROCESS macro for SPSS Statistical Calculator v26 with 5000 bootstrap samples. Results: Emotional stability was negatively correlated with anxiety (ρ = −0.546; p < 0.001), depressive symptoms (ρ = −0.603; p < 0.001), and emotional eating (ρ = −0.383; p < 0.001). Anxiety (ρ = 0.380; p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (ρ = 0.454; p < 0.001) were positively correlated with emotional eating. Only depressive symptoms showed a significant indirect statistical association linking emotional stability and emotional eating (B = −0.0139; 95% bootstrap CI: −0.0223 to −0.0068). In the serial path analysis, only the model specifying anxiety as the first intermediate variable showed a significant indirect effect (B = −0.0065; 95% bootstrap CI: −0.0109 to −0.0032). Conclusions: Depressive symptoms showed the strongest indirect association linking emotional stability and emotional eating in medical students. These findings should be interpreted as being consistent with the proposed statistical model and do not establish temporal or causal relationships.

Introduction. Ethanol dependence can have genetic or social causes and is considered a chronic condition. So­­cial anxiety is a common issue among young people, and alcohol is often used as a means of reducing social an­­xie­ty. Objective. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between ethanol consumption and levels of social anxiety, sociability and disinhibition among high school and university students. Methodology. The asses­­sment of alcohol consumption (AUDIT), social an­xiety le­vels (SIAS), and expectations related to ethanol use (CEOA). Results. The tests showed a statistically sig­ni­fi­cant correlation between social anxiety and alcohol con­sump­tion (χ²=4.29; p=0.038). There is a statistically cor­re­la­tion between alcohol use and positive perceptions of sociability (ρ=0.350; p<0.001), tension reduction (ρ=0.320; p<0.001), and disinhibition (ρ=0.370; p<0.001). Con­clu­sions. The study demonstrated an association bet­ween social anxiety and alcohol consumption. Family phy­si­cians play an important role in educating young peo­ple about the negative effects of alcohol use.