A Survey on the Relationship between Personality Factors and Sex in Students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences

Background and Individual characteristic helps people in better understanding of themselves and others. The purpose of this study was to investigate the gender differences in personality factors in students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. This cross-sectional study included 394 students (174 male, 220 female) who were randomly selected from Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) scale was used for data collection. The results of this study showed no significant differences in four factors of personality (neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness) among both sexes. However, significant differences were found in openness to experience between males and females (P=0.016). According to this study there is no difference between the sexes in personality factors of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Therefore, any planning associated with different personality types should be done regardless of gender differences.