Medical School Support of Students’ Professional and Personal Development by Sociodemographic Characteristics
Authors: Mytien Nguyen, Hyacinth R. C. Mason, Tonya Fancher, Sarwat I. Chaudhry, Melody L. Tran-Reina, Catherine Havemann, Shruthi Venkataraman, Alexis Webber, Dowin Boatright
Journal: JAMA Network Open (2025)

Importance Personal and professional development are integral to students’ professional identity formation. Objectives To examine the association between race, ethnicity, family income, and growing up in an underresourced neighborhood with perception of medical school support of professional and personal development. Design, Setting, and Participants Retrospective cross-sectional study using deidentified data of medical graduates who completed the Association of American Medical Colleges Graduation Questionnaire in 2018 to 2022. Statistical analysis was performed from October 1 to November 1, 2024. Main Outcomes and Measures Perception of medical school support of professional and personal development. Multivariate logistic regression models to assess the association of family income, race, ethnicity, and underresourced neighborhood status with perception of medical school support of professional and personal development during medical school, adjusting for students’ sex, age at graduation in quartiles, and clustered by school to account for school-to-school variability. Results Among 66 898 respondents in the study cohort, 34 731 identified as female (51.9%), 14 100 as Asian (21.1%), 3594 as Black or African American (5.4%), 3419 as Hispanic (5.1%), and 38 483 as White (57.5%). The mean (SD) age of respondents was 27.5 (2.6) years and 10 088 were from households with incomes less than $50 000 a year (15.1%). Students from families with incomes in the lowest 2 quintiles were significantly less likely to report medical school support of professional and personal development than students from household incomes of more than $200 000 (less than $50 000: 69.5% vs 75.1%; relative risk [RR], 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98; $50 000-$74 999: 71.0% vs 75.1%; RR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.94-0.98). Compared with White students, Asian students (aRR, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.96-0.98) and Black students (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.99) were less likely to report medical school support of professional development, and Black students were less likely to report medical school support of personal development (aRR, 0.93; 95% CI, 0.89-0.97). Compared with their peers, students who reported growing up in an underresourced neighborhood were significantly less likely to report medical school support of professional and personal development. Intersectionality analysis of family income, race, ethnicity, and underresourced neighborhood status suggested that perception of medical school support of professional and personal development decreased with increasing number of minoritized identities, with students who were URIM, from a low-income family, and reported growing up in underresourced neighborhoods the least likely to report medical school support of professional and personal development. Conclusion and Relevance In this cross-sectional study of medical graduates, students who were URIM, low-income, and students who reported growing up in underresourced neighborhood were significantly less likely to report medical school support of professional and personal development. It is therefore critical for medical schools and accreditation bodies to evaluate current curriculum and practices to foster professional and personal development that are equitable for all students.