Students’ preference for dentistry: effective factors and personality analysis

Aims: The aim of this study was to understand the personality traits and occupational preferences of dental students and to evaluate the possible relationships between these two factors. Methods: In this study, research was conducted on volunteer students studying at Niğde Ömer Halisdemir University Faculty of Dentistry in the 2023-2024 academic year. The research questions and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire Revised/ Shortened Form (EKA-GGK) were administered to the participants through face-to-face interviews. Sociodemographic characteristics, reasons for choosing a profession and personality traits of the students were evaluated. Results: 20.32% of the participants preferred dentistry because it is ta prestigious profession in the society, followed by financial return (18.32%) and job guarantee (14.97%). There was no significant relationship between the results of the Eysenck Personality Scale and the reasons for choosing dentistry as a profession (p>0.05). In the study, the neuroticism sub-dimension was found to be significantly higher in female participants than in male participants (p=0.017). Extraversion, psychoticism nd lying sub-dimensions did not show a significant difference according to variables such as gender, age, number of siblings, mother’s education level and income level. However, it was observed that the level of father’s education was effective on the extraversion score; children of fathers who graduated from high school had higher extraversion scores compared to children of fathers with secondary school or lower education level (p=0.045). Conclusion: Social status and financial return were the most important reasons for students to choose dentistry, while family desire was less effective. The results of the Eysenck Personality Scale showed that the students were generally emotionally balanced, open to social relationships, compliant with social norms and non-aggressive individuals.