Intra-and intercultural comparisons of the personality profiles of medical students in Argentina and the United States

Adolescence, Fall, 2002 by Horacio J. A. Rimoldi, Roberto Raimondo, James B. Erdmann, Mohammadreza Hojat

Table 1

Rotated Factor Loadings of the Eight Psychosocial Measures by Gender and
Country

                                       Factor 1
                         Argentina                United States
                  Men          Women     Men              Women

Loneliness        -.62         -.71      -.66             -.61
Extraversion       .57          .69       .72              .32
Self-Esteem        .49          .57       .61              .62
General Anxiety   -.31                   -.41             -.42
Test Anxiety
Neuroticism                              -.41             -.47
Locus of Control
Stressful Events  -.38

                                       Factor 2
                         Argentina                United States
                  Men          Women     Men              Women

Loneliness
Extraversion
Self-Esteem        .38          .35
General Anxiety   -.64         -.70      -.70             -.60
Test Anxiety      -.51         -.60      -.71             -.67
Neuroticism       -.69         -.60      -.59             -.56
Locus of Control  -.55
Stressful Events

Note. Factor loadings greater than /.30/ are reported.

Figure 1

Personality Profiles of Male (n = 167) and Female (n = 254) Medical
Students in Argentina

                                   Mean Score
Personality Measures             men     women

Self-Esteem                     16.5      15.8
Extraversion                    15.3      15.2
General Anxiety                 15.0      16.2
* Test Anxiety                  13.9      15.7
Neuroticism                     12.5      12.7
External Locus of Control       11.5      11.4
Loneliness                       8.6       9.1
Perception of Stressful Life
Events                           5.2       5.7

Note. Means for men are in bold italic.

* Gender difference is statistically significant (P < .05).

Note: Table made from line graph

Figure 2

Personality Profiles of Male (n = 416) and Female (n = 207) Medical
Students in the United States

                                     Mean Score
Personality Measures             men      women

Self-Esteem                      16.5     16.1

Extraversion                     14.2     14.6

*General Anxiety                 12.9     14.3

Test Anxiety                     12.9     13.7

Neuroticism                      11.5     11.9

External Locus of Control        10.7     10.9

Loneliness                       11.0     10.4

* Perception of Stressful Life    3.8      4.9
 Events

Note. Means for men are in bold italic.

* Gender difference is statistically significant (p < .05).

Note: Table made from line graph

Figure 3

Personality Profiles of Medical Students in Argentina (n = 421) and the
United States (n = 623)

                                     Mean Score
Personality Measures             USA      Argentina

Self-Esteem                      16.4       16.0

* Extraversion                   14.3       15.3

* General Anxiety                13.4       15.6

* Test Anxiety                   13.2       15.0

* Neuroticism                    11.3       12.6

* External Locus of Control      10.8       11.5

* Loneliness                     10.8        8.9

* Perception of Stressful Life    4.2        5.5
 Events

Note. Means for USA are in bolt italic.

* Cross-cultural difference is statistically significant (p < .05).

Note: Table made from line graph