In Pursuit of the MD: The Impact of Role Models, Identity Compatibility, and Belonging Among Undergraduate Women

Abstract

Women continue to face gender-related challenges in the medical field in places around the world where it has traditionally been male-dominated, including in the U.S. In an online experimental study with women attending a mid-sized public university in the Northeastern U.S. (N= 55) who were interested in pursuing a pre-medical track (being pre-med) as undergraduates, we explored the mechanisms involved in undergraduate women’s pursuit of a career as a physician, focusing on three factors: exposure to successful female physician role models, perceived identity compatibility between being a woman and being pre-med, and sense of belonging in pre-med. Participants were randomly assigned to an experimental condition in which they were exposed to information about successful female physicians, or to a control condition in which no information about female physicians was provided. First, as hypothesized, participants exposed to successful female physicians reported higher perceived identity compatibility, sense of belonging, and interest in a medical career compared to those in the control condition. Second, also as hypothesized, perceived identity compatibility mediated the effect of role models on sense of belonging, and sense of belonging mediated the relationship between perceived identity compatibility and interest in a medical career. This study highlights three key factors in women’s pursuit of a career as a physician and the process through which these factors may operate. Findings support the use of role models to set a positive psychosocial process in motion that can support women’s persistence in medicine.

Numbers do not tell the whole story: Gender and medicine in Portugal

“…Although the gender-gap has narrowed in the medical field (Rosenthal, Levy, London, Lobel, & Bazile, 2013), a pattern of horizontal and vertical gender segregation tends to prevail (Miller & Clark, 2008;Riska, 2011;Rosende, 2002), with persisting and substantial asymmetries between men and women. Research conducted in several countries (e.g., Lapeyre & Le Feuvre 2005;Linehan et al, 2013;Rosende, 2008;Rosenthal et al, 2013) shows that women continue to experience substantial disadvantages in comparison to men, and to work more in part time, while men occupy the higher status positions and are better paid (Lo Sasso, Richards, Chou, & Gerber, 2011), even in what might be deemed female specializations such as pediatrics (Machado, 2003).…”

“…Research conducted in several countries (e.g., Lapeyre & Le Feuvre 2005;Linehan et al, 2013;Rosende, 2008;Rosenthal et al, 2013) shows that women continue to experience substantial disadvantages in comparison to men, and to work more in part time, while men occupy the higher status positions and are better paid (Lo Sasso, Richards, Chou, & Gerber, 2011), even in what might be deemed female specializations such as pediatrics (Machado, 2003). Moreover, the reconfiguration of segregation extends to countries with more balanced gender distributions in the medical field such as Russia, Finland, Britain and Sweden (Rosende, 2008).…”

Mentoring the earliest-career psychologists: Role models, knowledge of internship issues, and attitudes toward research and science.

“…This is not consistent with literature in other health care fields (Inglehart et al, 2014;Rosenthal, Levy, London, Lobel, & Bazile, 2013), as well as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields (Dabneya et al, 2012;Kaye, Bems, Cress, & Nazar, 2014;Sadler, Sonnert, Hazari, & Tai, 2012). Research in these fields has em phasized mentoring relationships in undergraduate and even high school education.…”

Exploring youth socio-spatial perceptions of higher education landscapes through sketch maps

“…Multiple studies have indicated that students who feel like they belong on campus are more likely to have a positive experience (Chemers, Hu, & Garcia, 2001;Hurtado & Carter, 1997;Leese, 2010;London, Rosenthal, Levy, & Lobel, 2011;Sylvia Hurtado, Griffin, Arellano, & Cuellar, 2008). This work contributes to the emerging SBP by demonstrating that geographic methodologies, specifically studies of place, can contribute to research on the development, or lack of development, of student sense of belonging, an area that has primarily been addressed by psychologists (Cheryan, Plaut, Davies, & Steele, 2009;Good, Rattan, & Dweck, 2012;Rosenthal, Levy, London, Lobel, & Bazile, 2013;Stout, Dasgupta, Hunsinger, & McManus, 2011). Additionally, this approach can be replicated and compared across different campus environments and among different communities.…”