The contribution of personality traits and self-efficacy beliefs to medical students’ empathy

Academic learning and professional internship are the paramount pillars of medical students’ edu-cation. Modern healthcare organizational settings have become increasingly aware of the importance of nontechnical individual differences (e.g., personality dispositions and personal resources) in shaping optimal job profiles that may satisfy high-level clinical standards. In this vein, one of the most important challenges for medical academic institutions is the development of emotional and cognitive aspects of empathy that may support and sustain future professionals in achieving the goals of their clinical practice. Capitalizing on a large sample of Italian first-year undergraduate students, the present study sought to disentangle the independent contribution of Big-Five personality traits and Self-Efficacy beliefs in multiple academic and life spheres in explaining cognitive and emotional compo-nents of empathy. Results showed that both sets of variables play a significant role in shaping empathy, albeit with relevant differences on specific dimensions of empathy. Implications for academic learning and clinical practice are discussed.