Table 2.
Differences between male and female students in their reasons for choosing dentistry as a career.
| Reasons affecting choice of dentistry | Gender | Strongly agree (n = 5) N (%) |
Agree (n = 4) N (%) |
Neutral (n = 3) N (%) |
Disagree (n = 2) N (%) |
Strongly disagree (n = 1) N (%) |
Median | p-value (Mann–Whitney test) | Effect size (r) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financial reasons | |||||||||
| Easy to find jobs | Males | 5 (41.7) | 13 (43.3) | 24 (44.4) | 27 (81.8) | 15 (100) | 4.0 | < 0.0001∗ | 0.48 (large effect) |
| Females | 7 (58.3) | 17 (56.7) | 30 (55.6) | 6 (18.2) | 00 (0.0) | 3.0 | |||
| Total | 12 (100) | 30 (100) | 54 (100) | 33 (100) | 15 (100) | 3.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Good payment | Males | 15 (71.4) | 24 (54.5) | 27 (49.1) | 15 (71.4) | 03 (100) | 3.0 | 0.919 | 0.01 (negligible effect) |
| Females | 06 (28.6) | 20 (45.5) | 28 (50.9) | 06 (28.6) | 00 (0.0) | 3.0 | |||
| Total | 21 (100) | 44 (100) | 55 (100) | 21 (100) | 03 (100) | 3.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Professional reasons | |||||||||
| I can be my boss | Males | 17 (51.5) | 26 (47.3) | 33 (80.5) | 08 (53.3) | 00 (0.0) | 3.0 | 0.042∗ | 0.22 (small effect) |
| Females | 16 (48.5) | 29 (52.7) | 08 (19.5) | 07 (46.7) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 33 (100) | 55 (100) | 41 (100) | 15 (100) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| I can practice dentistry independently after my graduation with no need to be a specialist | Males | 13 (43.3) | 33 (53.2) | 22 (71.0) | 08 (61.5) | 08 (100) | 2.0 | 0.004∗ | 0.31 (medium effect) |
| Females | 17 (56.7) | 29 (46.8) | 09 (29.0) | 05 (38.5) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 30 (100) | 62 (100) | 31 (100) | 13 (100) | 08 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Dentistry offers more regular work hours that other medical courses | Males | 09 (36.0) | 35 (53.8) | 29 (76.3) | 07 (58.3) | 04 (100) | 2.0 | 0.001∗ | 0.34 (medium effect) |
| Females | 16 (64.0) | 30 (46.2) | 09 (23.7) | 05 (41.7) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 25 (100) | 65 (100) | 38 (100) | 12 (100) | 04 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Vocational reasons | |||||||||
| I like to improve the esthetics of people | Males | 32 (60.4) | 35 (56.5) | 16 (64.0) | 01 (33.3) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | 0.732 | 0.04 (negligible effect) |
| Females | 21 (39.6) | 27 (43.5) | 09 (36.0) | 02 (66.7) | 01 (100) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 53 (100) | 62 (100) | 25 (100) | 03 (100) | 01 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| I have good manual dexterity and skills to practice dentistry | Males | 28 (53.8) | 32 (58.2) | 21 (67.7) | 03 (60.0) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | 0.348 | 0.09 (negligible effect) |
| Females | 24 (46.2) | 23 (41.8) | 10 (32.3) | 02 (40.0) | 01 (100) | 1.0 | |||
| Total | 52 (100) | 55 (100) | 31 (100) | 05 (100) | 01 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Social reasons | |||||||||
| My friend who is a dentist encouraged me to join the dental course | Males | 07 (50.0) | 14 (42.4) | 22 (57.9) | 17 (58.6) | 24 (80.0) | 5.0 | 0.006∗ | 0.30 (medium effect) |
| Females | 07 (50.0) | 19 (57.6) | 16 (42.1) | 12 (41.4) | 6 (20.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 14 (100) | 33 (100) | 38 (100) | 29 (100) | 30 (100) | 3.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| My family wished me to become a dentist | Males | 13 (54.2) | 29 (63.0) | 25 (65.8) | 05 (26.3) | 12 (70.6) | 2.0 | 0.705 | 0.05 (negligible effect) |
| Females | 11 (45.8) | 17 (37.0) | 13 (34.2) | 14 (73.7) | 05 (29.4) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 24 (100) | 46 (100) | 38 (100) | 19 (100) | 17 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Dentistry is a prestigious profession | Males | 16 (64.0) | 35 (66.0) | 27 (60.0) | 05 (31.2) | 01 (20.0) | 2.0 | 0.023∗ | 0.29 (medium effect) |
| Females | 09 (36.0) | 18 (34.0) | 18 (40.0) | 11 (68.8) | 04 (80.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 25 (100) | 53 (100) | 45 (100) | 16 (100) | 05 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| Personal reasons | |||||||||
| My school GPA qualified me to choose dentistry as a career | Males | 20 (46.5) | 27 (58.7) | 16 (59.3) | 06 (46.2) | 15 (100) | 2.0 | 0.014∗ | 0.25 (medium effect) |
| Females | 23 (53.5) | 19 (41.3) | 11 (40.7) | 07 (53.8) | 00 (0.0) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 43 (100) | 46 (100) | 27 (100) | 13 (100) | 15 (100) | 2.0 | — | ||
|
| |||||||||
| I would get enough time for my personal life | Males | 11 (37.9) | 21 (52.5) | 35 (71.4) | 12 (60.0) | 05 (83.3) | 3.0 | 0.006∗ | 0.30 (medium effect) |
| Females | 18 (62.1) | 19 (47.5) | 14 (28.6) | 08 (40.0) | 01 (16.7) | 2.0 | |||
| Total | 29 (100) | 40 (100) | 49 (100) | 20 (100) | 06 (100) | 3.0 | — | ||
Note: Effect size r = Z/ (if N = total number of observations from both groups); Interpretation: small (0.1), medium (0.3), large (0.5).
∗Statistically significant.