Comparison of personality variables and values among dental students, practitioners, and faculty

Changes in personality and values in four classes of dental students at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry were reported in a previous paper. The purposes of this study were to determine the permanency of these changes after graduation and to compare the personalities and values of students and graduates to those of the faculty. Data were collected using the Myers-Briggs type indicator and the All-port-Vernon-Lindzey study of values. Analysis of variance was used to determine differences among the three groups. Graduates tended to resemble themselves as students. On nine of the ten variables, the faculty clustered differently from the students, the graduates, or both groups, raising the issue of the extent to which faculty members serve as role models.