Social Pressure: How Early Social Context Shapes Career Interest in Medicine

Despite increased attention toward improved diversity in medicine, access to the profession continues to be limited. In fact, strides made in racial and socioeconomic diversity in the medical profession remain slow, with certain groups even losing ground. Although the literature on career choice in general is significant, the unique contributions of social variables that influence early career interest in medicine have yet to be fully explored. As such, this study aimed to explore how students' initial and follow-up interest in medicine is affected by family, peers, and school settings.

This qualitative study draws on 94 interviews with students at a public, allopathic medical school in the southeastern United States. Participants provided rich insight into how precollege exposure to medicine via familial or social connections shaped their medical aspirations.

Qualitative analysis of these data illustrate the difficulty of exposing a diversity of students to medicine when social and cultural influences serve as barriers to the field for underprivileged communities. This study also highlights how even minimal or serendipitous social exposure to the medical profession can have a profound impact on students' aspirations.

In addition to implications for stakeholders seeking to broaden access to the medical profession, findings from this study document how less socially privileged students can be empowered to aspire to elite fields.