personal values of male and female doctors: gender aspects

Personal values of male and female doctors: gender aspects

Liisa NeittaanmaÈ ki a, *, Edith B. Gross b, Irma Virjo c, Harri HyppoÈ laÈ d,Esko Kumpusalod

aSocial and Health Care, Pohjois-Savo Polytechnic, P.O. Box 72, 74101 Iisalmi, FinlandbBeaver College, USA

cUniversity of Tampere, Tampere, FinlanddUniversity of Kuopio, Kuopio, Finland

Abstract

The aim of this study was to elucidate the personal values of physicians. It was part of the Physician 93 Study,

the purpose of which was to shed light on the life situation, career and future plans of young doctors and theirviews on medical education. The survey population included all the medical doctors registered during the years1982±1991 in Finland (N= 4671). In the spring of 1993 a postal questionnaire was sent to a random sample of2341 doctors. After two reminder letters, 1818 questionnaires (78%) were returned. 59% of the respondents were

women. Subjects were asked to rate on a 4-point scale each of a set of 17 potentially important values listed in thequestionnaire, ®ve of which were seen by the majority of physicians as very important. These values were: familylife, health, close friends, success in work or in studies and children's success. The potentially important values were

conceptualized as indicative of eight important dimensions of the values of physicians: close friends, health, selfactualization, success, universal values, well-being, family and ideology. Women doctors rated close friends, health,success, universalism and ideology as more important than men doctors. # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights

reserved.

Keywords: Values; Physicians; Gender; Finland

1. Introduction

Personal values of physicians have not been much

studied although physicians' values are crucial to

health care practice, and have come under scrutiny

during recent years, especially regarding priorities in

health care. Research has focused upon decisions con-

cerning pharmaceuticals and patient care (Orr and

Vickery, 1983; Self and Lyon-Loftus, 1983; Segal and

Hepler, 1985), interaction between patient and doctor

(West, 1984; Kurtz et al., 1985), choice of a profession

(Furnham, 1988; Taylor et al., 1990, Eliason and

Schubot, 1995; Xu et al., 1995), attitudes toward

health risks (Carlo et al., 1992) and ethical questions

in general (Pellegrino et al., 1985; Kipnis, 1990). There

have been studies also of political attitudes of medical

students (Maheux et al., 1988).

Despite the fact that research regarding personal

values of physicians is sparse, values and their distri-

bution among various types of population have been

thoroughly studied (Schwartz, 1992, 1994; Puohiniemi,

1995). Most researchers utilize Rokeach's de®nition of

human values as desirable goals that vary in import-

ance and guide people in their lives (Kluckhohn, 1951;

Rokeach, 1973; Schwartz and Sagiv, 1995). Values,

once internalized, serve as a standard for guiding

action, for developing attitudes toward various issues

and objects, for making moral judgments of oneself

and others and for comparing oneself with others.

Social Science & Medicine 48 (1999) 559±568

0277-9536/98/$ - see front matter # 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

PII: S0277-9536(98 )00375-X

PERGAMON

* Corresponding author. Social and Health Care, Tisalmi,

Pohjois-Savo Polytechnic, P.O. Box 72, 74101 Tisalmi, Finland,

Fax: +358 17 5506644; e-mail: liisa.neittaanmaki@pspt.®.

Values are also transcendant, providing criteria by

which people adopt more ultimate, long-term goals,according to Rokeach (1968). Thus, values provide aframework in which the decision making process takes

place, a process that is applied routinely and is crucialin the practice of medicine (Grundstein-Amado, 1995).

Based on Rokeach's de®nition, values have beenoperationalized in two categories: instrumental values,

which refer to behavior and terminal values, which arethose concerning end-states of existence (Rokeach,1973). Both instrumental values and terminal values

may have either a personal or a socially directed focus.For example, instrumental values of a personal nature

may be related to competence, sometimes referred toas self-actualization. Thus, behaving logically, intelli-

gently or imaginatively would be valued. On the otherhand, moral values, which have an interpersonal focus,would be classi®ed as instrumental values with social

intent. Behaving honestly and responsibly leads one tofeel that one is behaving morally.

Terminal values also can be either self-centered ormore socially directed. Examples of values that are

more personally directed would be salvation or peaceof mind. Society centered values would include suchgoals as world peace and brotherhood. The values in

this study fall into the four classes mentioned above:terminal values, both personal and social and instru-

mental values, personal and social.What is the source of our values? How do we

acquire them? Social factors, especially the value sys-tem of the culture in which an individual is located,contribute strongly to the formation of individual

values. Cultural values re¯ect the di�erent ways so-

cieties have developed to regulate human activities andthus they in¯uence the content of individual socializa-tion. Cultural values also determine the methods of

social control that individuals experience in pursuit oftheir values. Because institutions must be structured

according to the psychological requirements of individ-uals, cultural and individual value levels are concep-

tually related (Schwartz, 1994). Other major factorsin¯uential in shaping the value system of individualsare social class, occupation, education, sex, age, reli-

gious and political upbringing.Individual value systems may vary, according to

Rokeach (1973), depending upon the degree to whichcultural and institutional values have been internalized

and the degree to which identi®cation with sex roleshas occurred. Personality factors and life experiencesalso contribute to variance among individual values.

Such variation will be limited, however, by cultural, in-stitutional and other social factors mentioned above

(Rokeach, 1968).Similarities or di�erences in male and female phys-

ician attitudes and behavior are often explained interms of either their professional socialization or theirgender-role socialization. The relative contribution of

each has not been widely researched (Martin et al.,1988). During medical school and training, aspiring

doctors acquire not only the knowledge and skills ofmedicine, but also the attitudes, feelings and values of

members of the profession. Researchers have foundthat professional socialization tends to inculcate similarvalues and behavior among male and female phys-

Table 1

The variables ranked in order of importance with mean, standard deviation and skewness values

(range 1±4)

Variable Mean Standard

deviation

Skewness

Family life 3.7 0.5 ÿ2.2Health 3.7 0.5 ÿ1.6Close friends 3.7 0.5 ÿ1.4Success in work or studies 3.5 0.5 ÿ0.3Children's success 3.4 0.8 ÿ0.6Good job 3.3 0.6 ÿ0.3Opportunities to pursue hobbies 3.3 0.6 ÿ0.5Unpolluted environment 3.3 0.7 ÿ0.7World peace 3.2 0.8 ÿ0.6Respect from others 3.0 0.6 ÿ0.3Vacationing 3.0 0.7 ÿ0.3Fatherland 2.9 0.8 ÿ0.4Contact with interesting people 2.9 0.7 ÿ0.3Possibility of making new acquaintances 2.8 0.7 ÿ0.1Long life 2.8 0.5 ÿ1.4High standard of living 2.6 0.6 ÿ0.1Faith in God 2.4 1.1 0.2

L. NeittaanmaÈki et al. / Social Science & Medicine 48 (1999) 559±568560

icians. Similarities in practice style, knowledge, clinicaldecision making, referrals and handling of dying

patients have been observed and the source is usuallylocated in professional socialization (Margolis et al.,1983; Gross, 1985; Lorber, 1985; Tolle et al., 1985;

Dickinson and Ashley-Cameron, 1986; Maheux et al.,1988).However, the extent to which medical training fully

`homogenizes' gender di�erences in men's and women'sattitudes is not known (Maheux et al., 1988). Gendersocialization, upon which professional socialization is

overlaid, helps us understand the di�erences in certainaspects of male and female physicians' values andbehavior. After reviewing the literature, for example,Martin et al. (1988) concluded that there were many

similarities in the practice styles of male and femalephysicians. Practice styles were de®ned as includingattitudes toward patient care, knowledge and clinical

behavior. The one area in which men and women werefound to be di�erent was in physician±patient com-munication. In another study, gender di�erences sur-

faced in regard to occupational stress, i.e. thoseaspects of the profession that were viewed as moststressful. Male physicians reported doctor±patient re-

lationships as a stressor, while female physicians foundthe responsibility of the role and career/family con¯ictto be greater stressors. These di�erences were attribu-ted to wider cultural values regarding gender and the

nature of gender role socialization (Gross, 1992).Both studies concluded that while medical socializa-

tion may determine most aspects of practice style, gen-

der also has an important in¯uence on medicalpractice. This rationale applies in regard to personalvalues of male and female physicians. Where there are

di�erences, these may be attributable to the underlyinggender socialization that precedes inculcation of thevalues of the profession in medical training.The purpose of the Physician 93 Study, was to shed

light on the life situation, career and future plans ofyoung doctors and their views on medical education.This article deals speci®cally with the personal values

of young physicians, particularly the most importantvalues in their lives and the di�erences that existbetween men and women as to their values.

2. Subjects and methods

The study population included all the doctors who

were registered in Finland during the years 1982±1991(N= 4671). A random sample of 2341 doctors (50%)was drawn from the population. A postal question-

naire was sent to all of them in spring 1993. After tworeminder letters, 1818 questionnaires (78%) werereturned.

The population included 1970 men and 2701 womenand the sample 987 men and 1354 women. Altogether

742 men (75%) and 1069 women (79%) responded tothe survey, representing the study population withrespect to sex. Six respondents did not report their sex.

The mean age of the men was 35 years and that of thewomen 34 years.The questionnaire for the larger study included a set

of questions pertaining to personal values. Subjectswere asked to rate on a 4-point scale (1 = not at allimportant, 2 = not very important, 3 = quite import-

ant, 4 = very important) each of a set of 17 potentiallyimportant values (Table 1).Principal component factor analysis with varimax

rotation was used to examine the structure of the value

measure (Kim and Mueller, 1985). Two items, healthand close friends, based on a Spearman correlationmatrix were excluded (the correlation between the item

and any other item was 0.30 or less) and the other 15items were subjected to a principal component factoranalysis with varimax rotation (Table 2). The main cri-

terion used to determine the number of factors was themagnitude of eigenvalues. On the basis of eigenvaluesof 1.00 or more, six factors were produced and this

six-factor solution accounted for 64% of the variance.The relationships between value dimensions and gen-

der were analysed by the one-way analysis of variances(Siegel and Castellan, 1988).

3. Results

16 of the 17 potentially important values presented

in the questionnaire were seen by the majority ofdoctors as very important or quite important (Fig. 1).Faith in God was the exception with only 44% of thedoctors ranking it as an important value. Of those

values ranked very important, the following ®vereceived the highest ratings (in order): (1) family life;(2) health, (3) close friends; (4) success in work or stu-

dies and (5) children's success.Altogether eight dimensions of doctors' values were

conceptualized from the 17 potential values (Table 3).

Two variables, close friends and health, were examinedseparately, based upon a Spearman correlation matrix.Six factor-based scales were constructed from theremaining 15 values. The ®rst factor, self-actualization

(20% of variance), contained three items: contact withinteresting people. The possibility of making newacquaintances and opportunities to pursue hobbies,

which were summed to create a self actualization scale(alpha reliability r = 0.70). The second factor, success(11% of variance), was a function of three items: suc-

cess in work or studies, good job, respect from others.The success scale was created by summing these threeitems (alpha reliability r= 0.55). The third factor, uni-

L. NeittaanmaÈki et al. / Social Science & Medicine 48 (1999) 559±568 561

versalism (10% of variance), contained two items:

unpolluted environment and world peace and

measured the physicians' universal values. These two

items were summed to create a universal value scale

(alpha reliability r= 0.69). The fourth factor, well-

being (8% of variance), containing three items: long

life, high standard of living, vacationing, measured

physicians' values in regard to well-being. Three items

were summed to create a well-being scale (alpha re-

liability r= 0.51). The ®fth factor, family (8% of var-

iance), was a function of two items: family life and

children's success. These two items were summed to

create a family scale (alpha reliability r = 0.58). The

sixth factor was a function of two items: faith in God

and fatherland (7% of variance) and was related to the

ideologies physicians valued. The ideology scale was

created by summing these two items (alpha reliability

r= 0.50). Each scale was standardized by using the

mean sum (the range was 0±4).

Breaking down these eight value dimensions accord-

ing to sex, we ®nd that while male and female phys-

icians rank similarly several values as important, they

also rate some di�erently. They agree closely on the

importance of self-actualization (possibility of making

new acquaintances, contact with interesting people,

and opportunities to pursue hobbies), family (family

life and children's success) and well-being (long life,

high standard of living and vacationing). However,

more female than male physicians placed greater

emphasis on close friends, health, success (success in

work or studies, respect from others, good job), uni-versal values (world peace and unpolluted environ-

ment) and ideologies (faith in God, fatherland).

4. Discussion

According to our data, family, health and closefriends are the three most important values in phys-icians' lives. These values have also been found to beimportant to the Finnish population generally

(Suhonen, 1988). Studies done both in Finland and inother countries indicate that family life, human re-lations and health, in addition to work, are important

values in human life (Harding et al., 1986; Suhonen,1988; Bowling, 1995; HaÈ nninen, 1997). Finnish culture,with its emphasis on collectivism (Puohiniemi, 1995)

and egalitarian commitment and harmony (Schwartz,1994), is re¯ected in this study in the high prioritygiven to family life. Success in work and studies andchildren's success were fourth and ®fth in importance

of values to Finnish physicians.The fact that the physicians were from the same cul-

ture, the same social system, the same educational

background and experienced the same professionalsocialization can account partially for the sharedvalues. Also, experiences in a job will a�ect values and

beliefs and there is also the predisposition of peoplewith speci®c personalities, values and beliefs to choosecertain jobs, in this case medicine (Furnham, 1988).

Table 2

Principal component factor matrix with varimax rotation of the 15 value items

Variable 1st

factor,

`self

actualization'

2nd factor,

`success'

3rd factor,

`universal'

4th factor,

`well-being'

5th factor,

`family'

6th factor,

`ideology'

Communality

Contact with interesting people 0.84 0.09 0.11 0.03 0.07 0.02 0.74

Possibility in making new acquaintances 0.81 0.01 0.03 ÿ0.02 0.02 0.20 0.71

Opportunities to pursue hobbies 0.60 0.17 0.12 0.21 ÿ0.04 ÿ0.11 0.47

Success in work or studies ÿ0.06 0.77 0.04 ÿ0.05 0.05 0.07 0.61

Good job 0.11 0.75 0.09 0.24 0.04 ÿ0.04 0.64

Respect from others 0.32 0.56 ÿ0.01 0.08 0.06 0.01 0.42

Unpolluted environment 0.10 0.11 0.86 ÿ0.01 0.06 0.08 0.76

World peace 0.13 ÿ0.01 0.83 0.06 0.09 0.09 0.73

Long life ÿ0.03 0.03 0.12 0.75 0.14 0.12 0.62

High standard of living 0.05 0.31 ÿ0.21 0.73 0.01 ÿ0.01 0.67

Vacationing 0.38 ÿ0.04 0.14 0.55 ÿ0.01 ÿ0.08 0.48

Family life ÿ0.06 ÿ0.02 0.09 0.08 0.84 0.06 0.73

Children's success 0.12 0.14 0.06 0.06 0.82 0.08 0.72

Faith in God 0.05 ÿ0.09 0.02 ÿ0.04 0.05 0.84 0.72

Fatherland 0.03 0.15 0.14 0.10 0.10 0.75 0.63

Eigenvalues 3.02 1.72 1.57 1.16 1.14 1.05

Percent of variance 20.1 11.4 10.4 7.7 7.6 7.0


4.1. Close friends

Women physicians ranked close friends as a moreimportant value than did the men physicians. Many

studies have found close friendship to be a very im-portant value for women (Eichenbaum and Orbach,1988). Women's sense of personhood is grounded in

relatedness to others, according to Miller (1976). Theirsatisfaction, self-esteem and pleasure emanate from ac-

tivities that provide a sense of connection with others.According to Bell (1985), the interpersonal world hasnever been highly valued by men. Men's friendships

tend to be de®ned as activities done together, whereas,characteristically women's close friendships are based

on personal and emotional ties.Many researchers have attempted to explain the

kind of relationships females have with one another.

For example, Chodorow (1978), using a psychoanalytic

approach, has shown how the way in which womenmother in the earliest years generates lesser individua-tion in the female child than that in the male. This

results in a feeling of connectedness among females, es-pecially in their relationship with their mothers and,hence, with other females.

The di�erence between men and women in thisrespect is noted also by Gilligan (1982). Since masculi-

nity is de®ned through separation, males tend to bethreatened by intimacy. In contrast, femininity is

de®ned through attachment, making separation morethreatening to females. Thus males tend to have di�-culty with relationships, while females tend to have

problems with individuation.The ratio of female to male physicians has been

higher in Finland than in any other Nordic or Anglo-

Fig. 1. Importance of 17 values in life (%).


American country during the past ®fty years, currentlystanding at 46 percent. Although women physicians

comprise almost half of the total number of physicians,strati®cation by gender exists with fewer women in thehigher status specialties and women underrepresented

as medical educators, researchers or administrators inthe health care system (Riska and Wegar, 1993). Thislack of representation of women physicians at top

levels of the medical profession is considered to be aresult of the structure of the medical training andmedical practice (Lorber, 1984).Thus, an explanation for the importance of close

friends to female physicians could be that they are con-fronted with institutional barriers in what has been amale dominated profession and thus rely on each other

for networking and support. Not fully accepted by the`brotherhood' (Hughes, 1971) because, even thoughcolleagues, they are di�erent, women may rely more

heavily on one another in the profession (Lorber,1984).

4.2. Health

In most studies of values, health is found to be a

salient personal value. For example, in The Health andLifestyle Survey (Blaxter, 1990) the majority of respon-dents agreed that to have good health is the most im-

portant thing in life. In Finland health has been givenpriority through the national health system, which isconsidered to be the centerpiece of Finnish social pol-

icy (Ministry of Social A�airs and Health, 1987, 1995).The goals of the World Health OrganizationProgramme of health for all by the year 2000 have

been adopted in Finland. It is not surprising to ®ndhealth to be an important value among practitioners of

a profession dedicated to curing illness and disease andcaring for individuals in society (WHO, 1981).While health is seen as an important value, it is not

necessarily true that it is equally important for allgroups in a population. In this sample, women phys-icians placed greater emphasis on health than did the

men. Calnan (1987) examined the value placed onhealth in the daily lives of a group of women andfound it to be valued mainly in terms of enabling themto ful®ll their family responsibilities or helping the

family economy.

4.3. Success

The success scale included the variables: success in

work or studies, a good job and respect from others.Again, this factor was ranked higher among femalephysicians than male physicians. Men and women,

even in the same occupation, experience di�erentworking conditions: di�erent expectations for workand careers, di�erent opportunity structures and di�er-ent interpersonal and authority relationships, especially

power relationships (Aneshensel and Pearlin, 1987). Ingeneral, women and men in similar jobs do not di�erin their need for intrinsic rewards. Both men and

women, especially those employed in high-status occu-pations such as medicine, report that it is importantthat their careers meet these needs. However, when

women and men are compared on extrinsic rewards,there are some di�erences. Men are more likely to saythat pay and promotion are important, while women

Table 3

The value dimensions (mean, standard deviation) by gender

Value dimensions Men Women p a

Close friends mean 3.596 3.751 0.000

standard deviation 0.563 0.470

Health mean 3.670 3.782 0.000


Self actualization mean 3.015 3.009 0.808


Success mean 3.265 3.310 0.027


Universalism mean 3.147 3.304 0.000


Well-being mean 2.785 2.770 0.533


Family mean 3.484 3.452 0.322


Ideology mean 2.561 2.684 0.002


a The relationships between value dimensions and gender were analysed by the one-way analysis of

variance.


place higher value on a pleasant working environment,friendly co-workers, comfortable surroundings and so

forth (Unger and Crawford, 1992). Thus, it is not sur-prising that the women physicians in this study valuedsuccess as it was de®ned by this factor: success in work

and studies, respect and a good job.Success in work and studies as a value is related to

the attribution of success, and how it varies between

males and females. Whereas males are more likely toattribute their success to ability, women are morelikely to see success as a result of luck. When the task

is one that cannot reasonably be attributed entirely toluck (for example, becoming a successful physician)people are still reluctant to judge women equal to menin ability. Instead, they attribute the woman's success

more to hard work (Feldman-Summers and Kiesler,1974). It is logical for women to want to achieve suc-cess, against these odds, in their work and studies. In

Finland where the ratio of male to female physicians isalmost equal, the respect women doctors enjoy is notnecessarily found to the same degree in other occu-

pations and is highly prized (NeittaanmaÈ ki et al.,1993).

4.4. Universalism

The universal scale included items related to peaceand the environment. These values were included in acomparative study of the cultural values of 39 nations

conducted by Schwartz (1994). Schwartz concludedthat cultural values are organized along two basicaxes: mastery and hierarchy versus egalitarian commit-

ment and harmony. Values related to mastery andhierarchy include those of self-enhancement, such asambition, daring, social power, authority and wealth.Egalitarian commitment and harmony emphasize uni-

versal type values, such as equality, harmony withnature and protecting the environment. When the cul-tural values of the 39 nations were compared, Finland

scored the lowest on mastery and sixth from the bot-tom on hierarchy. However, on measures of egalitariancommitment, Finland ranked tenth from the top and

®fth from the top among the 39 nations in harmony.Overall then, cultural values in Finland advocate equaltreatment and concern for nature and the environ-ment.

In this study men and women physicians di�ered inregard to the universalism scale with women rankingthese values higher than men. In terms of peace, many

of the most passionate peace advocates in the worldhave been women. Married women with families tendto be concerned with issues associated with political

stability of the world, the well-being of other familymembers and to a lesser extent material wealth,according to Calnan (1987).

More females were found to embrace environmentalconcerns in a study of personal values in a sample of

3104 Finns. Puohiniemi (1995) found that more `altru-ists' (30% of the respondents in this study were altru-ists) were female than male. Altruists are persons

concerned with the welfare and needs of close others,with the scarcity of natural resources and with otheruniversal values.

4.5. Ideology

The ideology scale included faith in God and thevalue of fatherland. Faith in God was an importantvalue to every tenth physician. A profession based onnatural science may account for the lower priority

given faith in God among the values of physicians.However, more women doctors than men emphasizefaith in God in their lives. This result is typical of

many studies investigating religiosity according to gen-der and typical as well of women in Finland(HaÈ nninen, 1997). In the United States when compar-

ing religiosity by sex, women appear more religiousthan men on most measures. More women than menactually go to church or synagogue, consider religion

to be very important in their lives and believe that reli-gion can answer all or most of today's problems(Renzetti and Curran, 1992; Sapiro, 1994).

5. Conclusion

This study of personal values revealed that all butone of the 17 potentially important values were con-

sidered very important or quite important by thissample of Finnish physicians. The one value notranked as important was that of faith in God. Amongthe seventeen values, the ®ve that were considered

most important, in order, were family life, health, closefriends, success in work or studies and children's suc-cess.

Factor analysis of the 17 values revealed eightdimensions of values in this study, six factors and twoseparate variables. Di�erences by gender were found

among ®ve of the eight dimensions. Male and femalephysicians agreed on the importance of family, selfactualization and well-being. Female physicians, on theother hand, ranked close friends, health, success, uni-

versalism and ideology as more important than did themale physicians.It is the argument of this article that while cultural

values, educational background and professional socia-lization may contribute to similarities in physicians'values, gender socialization can account for di�erences

between male and female physicians. The culture ofthe profession, inculcated during medical school andtraining, is a value system shared collectively among


physicians. Acquiring expertise, exercising authority,

being responsible for the patient, having total commit-ment, dedicating many hours and trading ideas aboutpatients are part of the culture that is transmitted to

aspiring physicians. Both male and female physiciansadopt these values as they become professionals.

Feather (1987) states that when investigating male andfemale professionals in similar ®elds, value systems arefound to be more homogeneous because the act of

choosing a speci®c educational environment would bein¯uenced by their value priorities. The values that

both male and female physicians agreed upon weresimilar to those in the wider culture (family) and re-lated to the status and bene®ts that accrue to members

of the profession (self-actualization and well-being).Yet, there are ways in which male and female phys-

icians are di�erent, where the process of professionalsocialization does not completely transform personalidentities into professional identities. Men and women

have di�erent statuses in our sex-strati®ed society, aresocialized to adopt di�erent traits and values and are

channeled into gender speci®c roles. These di�erentstatuses and the attendant socialization a�ect phys-icians' behavior and values. In this study women were

found to count on close relationships with friends, tobe motivated to seek success in a traditional male en-

vironment, to be concerned about the environmentand world peace and to value religion.Examining the eight dimensions of personal values

in terms of Rokeach's framework, we ®nd that fourare terminal values, two each in the personal and

social categories, and four are instrumental values,again two each in the personal and social classes(Table 4). Ultimate values, referring to end states of

existence, were health and well-being on the personallevel and universalism and ideology on the social level.

Instrumental values included self-actualization and suc-cess on the personal level and close friends and familyin the more social direction.

Finnish physicians were found to have personalvalues similar to those of their culture broadly, of their

profession, and of other groups whose values havebeen measured.

The high proportion of female physicians in the pro-fession for a number of years may explain some of the

similarity in values. The di�erences within the groupwere those of gender, for which the major explanationis the social status of women in society and the sociali-

zation process they have undergone. These factors,a�ecting women from birth, form a sub-strata uponwhich all later socialization and experiences are laid.

Acknowledgements

We thank the following persons included in the`Finnish Physician 93' study group for valuable help inthe preparing of the article: Victoria Mekosh-

Rosenbaum, Leigh University, USA; Kari Mattila,University of Tampere, Finland; Santero Kujala, TheFinnish Medical Association, Finland; Riitta Luhtala,The Finnish Medical Association, Finland; Hannu

Halila, The Finnish Medical Association, Finland andMauri Isokoski, University of Tampere, Finland

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Table 4

The eight value dimensions according to Rokeach's classi®-

cation

Self-centered Society-centered

Terminal values

(end-states)

healtha,

well-being

universala,

ideologya

Instrumental values

(modes of conduct)

self-actualization,

successaclose friendsa,

family

a Indicates values in which females gave higher ranking than

males.


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