Curious About Curiosity: Preliminary Validity Evidence for a Multidimensional Curiosity Scale in Medical Students

Curiosity is essential to the work of physicians, making it an important trait to promote in medical students. The purpose of this study was to gather initial validity evidence for applying Kashdan's Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale to medical students and determine if curiosity changes across medical school. Medical students at one institution completed the Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale in 2 academic years (2020-2021 (N = 676) and 2021-2022 (N = 648)). Cognitive interviews were conducted with six students to clarify their interpretation of the items. The scale's latent structure was explored using factor analysis and domain averages were compared across years of medical school. New items were added based on the cognitive interviews and the revised scale was administered in the next academic year (2022-2023, N = 590). Items loaded according to the expected five-factor model except Social Curiosity. Domain averages were not significantly different across the years of medical school. Compared to the national population, medical students scored significantly lower for Deprivation Sensitivity and significantly higher for all other domains. New items that split Social Curiosity into overt and covert loaded according to Kashdan's Five-Dimensional Curiosity Scale. This study provides preliminary validity evidence for a multidimensional curiosity scale that can be used to determine the impact of curricular changes on medical student curiosity.