388 - Personality Types of Dental Postgraduate Students of TUSDM

Purpose:
The purpose of this study was to determine personality traits among postgraduate dental residents at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) and evaluate their association with dental specialty using the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI).

Methods:
This cross-sectional study recruited a convenience sample of postgraduate dental residents at TUSDM. An anonymous electronic survey was distributed via Qualtrics. The survey included the TIPI, which assesses five personality domains: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience, along with demographic variables including age, gender, residency program, and year of training. No identifying information were collected. Descriptive statistics were calculated using counts and percentages for categorical variables and means and standard deviations for continuous variables. TIPI scores were calculated according to established scoring guidelines. Differences in personality traits across specialties were analyzed using independent samples t-tests when normality assumptions were met and Mann–Whitney U tests when data were non-normally distributed. Normality was assessed graphically and using the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 29, with P< 0.05 considered statistically significant.

Results:
A total of 122 responses were collected. Valid responses ranged from 104 to 106 across personality domains, and the mean age was 29.7±3.7 years. Conscientiousness had the highest mean score (5.88±0.96), followed by openness to experience (5.47±1.06), agreeableness (4.96±1.17), emotional stability (4.87±1.33), and extraversion (4.75±1.43). Kruskal-Wallis analysis showed a significant difference in conscientiousness across specialties (P=.041). Extraversion (P=.162), agreeableness (P=.148), emotional stability (P=.590), and openness to experience (P=.813) were not significantly different across specialties. Post-hoc analysis with Bonferroni correction showed limited pairwise differences.

Conclusion:
Conscientiousness differed across dental specialties, while extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experience did not. These findings suggest that conscientiousness may be associated with specialty selection among dental residents.