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Autistic Traits, STEM, and Medicine: Autism Spectrum Quotient Scores Predict Medical Students’ Career Specialty Preferences

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  • Emma Turner
  • Emma Aitken
  • Gareth Richards

Abstract

There is a higher than chance representation of autistic people and people with elevated autistic traits in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) industries. Medical students, despite studying a STEM subject, have lower autistic traits than other STEM students. Medicine is heterogenous, covering technique-oriented specialties (e.g., surgery) with little patient interaction, person-oriented specialties (e.g., pediatrics), and general practice. We present an online survey in which 502 UK university students (medicine, n  = 344; STEM, n  = 94; non-STEM, n  = 64) reported their study area and career aspirations and completed the Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ), a quantitative self-report measure of autistic traits. Our main findings were that medical students had significantly lower AQ scores than other STEM ( p  

Suggested Citation

  • Emma Turner & Emma Aitken & Gareth Richards, 2021. "Autistic Traits, STEM, and Medicine: Autism Spectrum Quotient Scores Predict Medical Students’ Career Specialty Preferences," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:21582440211050389
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440211050389
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Emily Ruzich & Carrie Allison & Bhismadev Chakrabarti & Paula Smith & Henry Musto & Howard Ring & Simon Baron-Cohen, 2015. "Sex and STEM Occupation Predict Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ) Scores in Half a Million People," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-15, October.
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