What Makes Psychiatry Residents Choose Research Careers?

With fewer psychiatry residents choosing to become researchers, educators have been seeking characteristics that increase the odds that a graduating psychiatry resident will devote a large portion of his or her career to research pursuits. A group of leading psychiatric educators led by Edward Silberman, M.D., of Tufts University has homed in on several key factors. Describing their findings in Academic Psychiatry, Silberman and colleagues found that residents with greater research interest did not come late to the calling but had shown a longer and more consistent pattern of seeking out research niches, often prior to starting their residency. They also were more likely than their peers with less research interest to be male, have graduate degrees, and be burdened by lower amounts of debt. The authors concluded that "efforts to increase recruitment into research should center on identifying early developmental influences, eliminating barriers specific to women, and ensuring adequate funding to provide secure careers for talented potential researchers."

To learn more about this study, see Academic Psychiatry here. Read about the results of the latest resident match in psychiatry in Psychiatric News here and see what advice a graduating psychiatry resident has for her peers as they search for their first post-residency position here.

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