Empathy remains a widely discussed topic within medical education research. Studies on empathy changes among medical students are not univocal: empathy may decline, remain stable or increase. A largely unexplored research question regards inter-individual variability in empathy change, namely if different longitudinal trajectories of empathy exist. Evidence on the association of empathy trajectories with personality and motives for studying medicine is also scarce. Here, latent growth modeling examined empathy (measured with the Jefferson Scale of Empathy) among 201 medical students (M age = 20.74, 57% females) across three assessments: at entry year (Year 1) and during the first two clinical years (Years 4 and 5). Associations between empathy trajectories, personality in Year 1 and motives for studying medicine in Years 4 and 5 were tested. We identified two empathy trajectory groups: lower and decreasing ( n = 59; 29%) and higher and stable ( n = 142; 71%). Regression analyses indicated that higher openness in Year 1 was associated with an increased probability of higher and stable group membership (controlling for motives in Year 1). The effect of openness disappeared controlling for motives in Years 4 and 5 while caring for patients (in Years 4 and 5) and altruism (in Year 4) were positively associated with an increased probability of higher and stable group membership. In sum, we observed that empathy remains stable in most medical students and declines in fewer; openness and patients-oriented motives for studying medicine are associated with higher and stable empathy. Encouraging medical students’ patients-oriented motives from preclinical throughout clinical years may prevent empathy decline.

中文翻译：

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整个医学院的移情轨迹：与个性和学习医学动机的关系

移情仍然是医学教育研究中广泛讨论的话题。关于医学生同理心变化的研究并不明确：同理心可能会下降、保持稳定或增加。一个很大程度上未探索的研究问题是关于移情变化的个体间差异，即是否存在不同的移情纵向轨迹。关于移情轨迹与个性和学习医学动机的关联的证据也很少。在这里，潜在成长模型在三个评估中检查了 201 名医学生（M 年龄 = 20.74，57% 女性）的同理心（用杰斐逊同理心量表测量）：入学年（第 1 年）和前两年临床年（年4 和 5）。测试了移情轨迹、第 1 年的个性和第 4 年和第 5 年学习医学的动机之间的关联。我们确定了两个共情轨迹组：较低且下降（n = 59；29%）和较高且稳定（n = 142；71%）。回归分析表明，第 1 年较高的开放度与较高且稳定的群体成员（控制第 1 年的动机）的可能性增加有关。在第 4 年和第 5 年控制动机时，开放性的影响消失，而照顾患者（第 4 年和第 5 年）和利他主义（第 4 年）与更高和稳定的团体成员的可能性增加呈正相关。总而言之，我们观察到大多数医学生的同理心保持稳定，少数人则下降；学习医学的开放性和以患者为导向的动机与更高和稳定的同理心有关。