Does doctors’ personality differ from those of patients, the highly educated and other caring professions? An observational study using two nationally representative Australian surveys

OBJECTIVES: Personality differences between doctors and patients can affect treatment outcomes. We examine these trait disparities, as well as differences across medical specialities. DESIGN: Retrospective, observational statistical analysis of secondary data. SETTING: Data from two data sets that are nationally representative of doctors and the general population in Australia. PARTICIPANTS: We include 23 358 individuals from a representative survey of the general Australian population (with subgroups of 18 705 patients, 1261 highly educated individuals and 5814 working in caring professions) as well as 19 351 doctors from a representative survey of doctors in Australia (with subgroups of 5844 general practitioners, 1776 person-oriented specialists and 3245 technique-oriented specialists). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Big Five personality traits and locus of control. Measures are standardised by gender, age and being born overseas and weighted to be representative of their population. RESULTS: Doctors are significantly more agreeable (a: standardised score −0.12, 95% CIs −0.18 to −0.06), conscientious (c: −0.27 to –0.33 to −0.20), extroverted (e: 0.11, 0.04 to 0.17) and neurotic (n: 0.14, CI 0.08 to 0.20) than the general population (a: −0.38 to –0.42 to −0.34, c: −0.96 to –1.00 to −0.91, e: −0.22 to –0.26 to −0.19, n: −1.01 to –1.03 to −0.98) or patients (a: −0.77 to –0.85 to −0.69, c: −1.27 to –1.36 to −1.19, e: −0.24 to –0.31 to −0.18, n: −0.71 to –0.76 to −0.66). Patients (−0.03 to –0.10 to 0.05) are more open than doctors (−0.30 to –0.36 to −0.23). Doctors have a significantly more external locus of control (0.06, 0.00 to 0.13) than the general population (−0.10 to –0.13 to −0.06) but do not differ from patients (−0.04 to –0.11 to 0.03). There are minor differences in personality traits among doctors with different specialities. CONCLUSIONS: Several personality traits differ between doctors, the population and patients. Awareness about differences can improve doctor–patient communication and allow patients to understand and comply with treatment recommendations.