Table 3: Factors influencing specialty preferences.
| All specialties | Uncontrollable lifestyle | Controllable lifestyle | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specialty | Male n (%) | Female n (%) | p-value | Male n (%) | Female n (%) | p-value | Male n (%) | Female n (%) | p-value |
| Encouragement by staff | 64 (45.7) | 76 (40.6) | 0.359 | 47 (45.6) | 63 (44.1) | 0.806 | 17 (50.0) | 12 (30.8) | 0.128 |
| Role model in the specialty | 92 (65.7) | 128 (68.4) | 0.554 | 75 (72.8) | 104 (73.2) | 1.000 | 16 (47.1) | 22 (56.4) | 0.441 |
| Job and financial rewards | 84 (60.0) | 128 (68.4) | 0.114 | 61 (59.2) | 99 (69.2) | 0.104 | 20 (58.8) | 26 (66.7) | 0.726 |
| Prestige of the specialty | 57 (40.7) | 105 (56.1) | 0.006* | 46 (44.7) | 89 (62.2) | 0.006* | 9 (26.5) | 12 (30.8) | 0.528 |
| Lifestyle of practice | 98 (70.0) | 109 (58.3) | 0.030* | 68 (66.0) | 80 (55.9) | 0.111 | 27 (79.4) | 26 (66.7) | 0.126 |
| Ease of raising a family | 86 (61.4) | 73 (39.0) | <0.001* | 26 (25.2) | 39 (27.3) | 0.722 | 29 (85.3) | 17 (43.6) | <0.001* |
| Intellectual challenge | 100 (71.4) | 121 (64.7) | 0.199 | 76 (73.8) | 97 (67.8) | 0.313 | 21 (61.8) | 20 (51.3) | 0.346 |
| Length of residency training | 57 (40.7) | 57 (30.5) | 0.055 | 41 (39.8) | 35 (24.5) | 0.010* | 15 (44.1) | 20 (51.3) | 0.544 |
| Ease of entry into residency | 26 (18.6) | 30 (16.0) | 0.550 | 16 (15.5) | 17 (11.9) | 0.408 | 9 (26.5) | 12 (30.8) | 0.802 |
| Lifestyle during residency | 40 (28.6) | 57 (30.5) | 0.709 | 26 (25.2) | 39 (27.3) | 0.722 | 12 (35.3) | 17 (43.6) | 0.778 |
| Further training after residency | 54 (38.6) | 78 (41.7) | 0.568 | 61 (39.8) | 64 (44.8) | 0.439 | 11 (32.4) | 14 (35.9) | 0.725 |
| Gender distribution in specialty | 57 (40.7) | 21 (11.2) | <0.001* | 44 (42.7) | 15 (10.5) | <0.001* | 11 (32.4) | 6 (15.4) | 0.023* |
| Academic or research opportunities | 87 (62.1) | 125 (66.8) | 0.380 | 65 (63.1) | 96 (67.1) | 0.512 | 20 (58.8) | 29 (74.4) | 0.549 |
*
Statistically significant.