Background The undergraduate program of psychiatry has been widely established in recent years to improve the education and recruitment of psychiatrists in China. We aim to investigate the career choice of medical students majoring in psychiatry in China and the influential factors. Method This multicenter study was conducted in 26 medical schools in China from May to October of 2019. Participants included 4610 medical students majoring in psychiatry and 3857 medical students majoring in clinical medicine. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the influential factors of students’ choices of psychiatry at matriculation and as a career. Results 44.08% of psychiatry majored students gave psychiatry as a first choice at matriculation, and 56.67% of them would choose psychiatry as a career, which was in sharp contrast to the proportion of clinical medicine majored students who would choose psychiatry as a career (0.69%). Personal interest (59.61%), suggestions from family members (27.96%), and experiencing mental problems (23.19%) were main reasons for choosing psychiatry major at matriculation. Personal interest (odds ratio [OR] = 2.12, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.87–2.40), experiencing a psychiatry clerkship (OR = 1.99, 95% CI = 1.28–3.08), being female (OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.30–1.68), experiencing mental problems (OR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.28–1.56), and suggestions from family members (OR = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.08–1.46) correlated positively with students’ choice of psychiatry as career. Students who lacked psychiatry knowledge (OR = 0.49, 95% CI = 0.29–0.85) or chose psychiatry because of lower admission scores (OR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.63–0.97) were less likely to choose psychiatry as a career. Conclusion More than half of psychiatry majored medical school students planned to choose psychiatry as their career, whereas very few students in the clinic medicine major would make this choice. Increasing students’ interest in psychiatry, strengthening psychiatry clerkships, and popularizing psychiatric knowledge are modifiable factors to increase the psychiatry career intention. The extent to which medical students’ attitudes toward psychiatry can be changed through medical school education and greater exposure to psychiatry will need further investigation.

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BackgroundPrevious studies have suggested that the DRD2/ANKK1 rs1800497 C > T polymorphism plays a critical role in the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, published data are inconsistent or even contradictory. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis to explore the underlying correlation between the rs1800497 C > T polymorphism and PTSD risk.Materials and methodsA total of five online databases were searched, and all related studies were reviewed up to 1 October 2022. Critical information was extracted, and quality assessment was conducted for all included studies. Multivariate meta-analyses were performed for the genetic model choice, and the odds ratios (ORs) and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to examine the statistical power of the genetic models. In addition, heterogeneity, sensitivity, cumulative analysis, and publication bias were analyzed to guarantee statistical power.ResultOverall, 12 observational studies involving 5,515 subjects were included and analyzed in this meta-analysis. Multivariate analysis indicated that a co-dominant genetic model was most likely the best choice. Pooled results revealed an elevated PTSD risk in mutated homozygote TT carriers in the general population (TT vs. CC: OR = 1.73, 95% CI = 1.14–2.62, P = 0.01, I2 = 58.9%) and other specific subgroups. Moreover, similar results were observed in other genetic models using univariate analysis.ConclusionCurrent evidence suggests that the DRD2/ANKK1 rs1800497 C > T polymorphism may contribute to PTSD susceptibility.

Background: Infantile hemangioma (IH) is the most frequent benign tumor of infancy which impacts the psychological status of parents of affected children. Parental psychological status has a significant effect on the therapeutic effect and long-term prognosis of IH children. However, no standard questionnaires had been established previously to assess the psychological status of Chinese parents of children with IH.Methods: This study prospectively developed and validated a psychological status instrument for the assessment of parents of patients with IH and to identify clinical features with effects on the psychological status. A total of 350 parents completed the 35-item Psychologic Status Questionnaire for parents of Infantile Hemangiomas (IH-PSQ) and provided demographic information. The IH-PSQ was refined via item analysis, validity analysis (including exploratory factor analysis and criterion-related validity) and reliability analysis (including internal consistency reliability, split half reliability, and test-retest reliability).Results: The dimensionality of the items was evaluated using factor analysis, with results suggesting 5 factors: anxiety, depression, psychological imbalance, disease shame, and disease fear. The final instrument consists of 4 scales with a total of 23 items. Construct validity was demonstrated and IH-PSQ showed good internal coherence (Cronbach's α: 0.957), good split half reliability (0.971), and good test-retest reliability (correlation coefficient: 0.967). The correlation coefficient between the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) of children with IH was 0.874 and 0.754, respectively. Multiple linear regression analysis found that some characteristics will affect the score of IH-PSQ. Conclusions:The IH-PSQ contains 5 dimensions and 23 entries, and with good reliability and validity, can objectively and effectively evaluate the psychological status of IH parents. Certain clinical characteristics of IH families, including parents' own factors (including their monthly income and cultural level) and disease-related factors of affected children (including the duration of illness, tumor size, with or without complications, single or multiple, whether being treated or not), were associated with a greater impact on IH-PSQ.

The childhood experiences of being overprotected and overcontrolled by family members have been suggested to be potentially traumatic. However, the possible associated factors of these experiences among young people are still not well studied. This study aimed to investigate the possible associated factors of childhood overprotection/overcontrol (OP/OC) experiences in young populations in a relatively large, nationwide sample of Chinese university students. A total of 5,823 university students across nine different provinces in China were recruited and included in the data analyses. All participants completed the OP/OC subscale in a recently developed 33-item Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-33) to assess their OP/OC experiences. Data were also collected on socio-demographic information and multiple psychological characteristics of all participants. Binary logistic regression was conducted to investigate the associated factors of OP/OC. The prevalence of childhood OP/OC was estimated as 15.63% (910/5,823) based on a cutoff of OP/OC subscale score ≥ 13. Binary logistic regression suggested that being male, being a single child, having depression, having psychotic-like experiences, lower family functioning, and lower psychological resilience were independently associated with childhood OP/OC experiences (all corrected-p＜0.05). The OP/OC was also positively associated with all the other trauma subtypes (abuses and neglects) in the CTQ-33. Post-hoc analyses suggested that OP/OC experiences were associated with depression in only females, and associated with anxiety in only males. Our results may provide initial evidence that childhood OP/OC experiences would have negative effects on young people's mental health which merits further investigations, especially in clinical populations.