Personal values as predictors of medical students’ empathy

Background: The theory of values has been shown to influence a wide range of human behaviors. However, little is known about the specific relationship between personal values and the empathetic attitude in medical students. Summary of work: The aim of this study was to assess personal values in a sample of Italian medical students and to clarify its relationships with empathy variables. The impact of personal values (measured by the Portrait Value Questionnaire) on empathy dimensions (measured by the Interpersonal Reactivity Index) was investigated in a convenience sample of 398 second-year students (female=207; main age=19.93, SD=1.39) from an Italian Medical School. Analyses of variance and multiple hierarchical regression models were performed with the predictive analytics software SPSS 24 for Mac. Summary of results: ANOVA revealed significant gender differences in prosocial and individualistic attitude. Male students scored higher in Self-Enhancement scale (F=36.503; p>0.001), while female students had higher levels of Self-Transcendence dimension (F=12.402; p>0.001). Regression models showed that personal values contributed to explaining empathy dimensions’ variance. Self-Transcendence showed a significant positive unique contribution to Empathic Concern (B=3.973; p>0.001), while Perspective Taking was predicted by Self-Transcendence (B=3.567; p>0.001) and Self-Enhancement (B=-0.697; p<0.05), even after controlling for gender and age. Discussions and conclusions: Gender differences in personal values were found. Male medical students scored higher in self-promotion dimension, while female students were more disposed to transcend selfish interests. Moreover, the tendency to adopt the psychological point of view of others was predicted by higher levels of self-transcendence and lower levels of self-enhancement. Take-home messages: These findings have some educational implications. Medical education should develop educational assessment and tailored strategies to improve students’ awareness about their personal values since they are early predictors of medical empathy.