Gender and Moral Development in Medical School

• In Event: Intersectionality of Culture and Identity in the Professions

Abstract

This research builds on previous research, for which James Rest’s Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2) was administered to students of the in-coming 2011 SOM class, under IRB-approved protocol, at the outset and conclusion of their program. Data collected for gender was culled for the present study. The objective was to examine the effect of gender on moral development, using the DIT-2 postconventional scores (P-scores). P-scores at times 1 and 2 revealed that gender had a significant main effect (p< .01). The findings raised tentative questions about continuing discussions about either a justice or a care orientation of moral reasoning, at least insofar as a continuance to conceptualize moral attitudes as essentially either male or female may (re-)produce a hidden curriculum.

Author

• Sandra Riegle, Morehead State University