Gender-Based Differences in Language Used by Students to Describe Their Noteworthy Characteristics in Medical Student Performance Evaluations

Abstract

Purpose The noteworthy characteristic (NC) section of the medical student performance evaluation (MSPE) was introduced to facilitate holistic review of residency applications and mitigate biases. The student-written aspect of the characteristics, however, may introduce biases resulting from gender differences in self-promotion behaviors. The authors conducted an exploratory analysis of potential gender-based differences in language used in NCs. Method The authors performed a single-center cohort analysis of all student-written NCs at the Perelman School of Medicine (2018-2022). NCs were converted into single words and characterized into word categories: ability (e.g., "talent"), standout ("best"), grindstone ("meticulous"), communal ("caring"), or agentic ("ambitious"). The authors qualitatively analyzed NC topic characteristics (i.e., focused on scholarship, community service). Logistic regression was used to identify gender differences in word categories and topics used in NCs. Results The cohort included 2,084 characteristics from 783 MSPEs (47.5%, n = 371 written by women). After adjusting for underrepresented in medicine status, honor society membership, and intended specialty, men were more likely to use standout (OR = 2.00; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.35, 2.96; P =.001) and communal (OR = 1.40; 95% CI = 1.03, 1.90; P =.03) words in their NCs compared with women but less likely to use grindstone words (OR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.53, 0.98; P =.04). Men were more likely than women to discuss scholarship (OR = 2.03; 95% CI = 1.27, 3.23; P =.003), hobbies (OR = 1.45; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.96; P =.02), and/or awards (OR = 1.59; 95% CI = 1.16, 2.16; P =.004) and less likely to highlight community service (OR = 0.66; 95% CI = 0.48, 0.92; P =.02). Conclusions The self-written nature of NCs permits language differences that may contribute to gender bias in residency application.