Associate Professor Miles Bore

This paper reports a 40-year follow-up of 57 graduates from the initial intake to an Australian medical school who were selected on the basis of either academic criteria alone or desirable personal qualities as assessed by non-cognitive tests and an interview (with a third small group satisfying both criteria). Both students and teaching staff have remained blind to the basis for selection until the present day. Analysis of their under- and post-graduate careers indicates that 'academic' entrants were more likely to complete an intercalated BMedSci degree and to become specialists, while 'personal qualities' entrants were more likely to graduate with honours, become GPs, and win higher degrees after graduation. However, gender more significantly predicted these outcomes, with female results similar to 'personal qualities' entrants and males' similar to 'academic.' The results are interpreted with reference to the aims and structure of the Newcastle medicine curriculum.

Purpose The Middle Childhood Survey (MCS) was designed as a computerised self-report assessment of children's mental health and well-being at approximately 11 years of age, conducted with a population cohort of 87 026 children being studied longitudinally within the New South Wales (NSW) Child Development Study. Participants School Principals provided written consent for teachers to administer the MCS in class to year 6 students at 829 NSW schools (35.0% of eligible schools). Parent or child opt-outs from participation were received for 4.3% of children, and MCS data obtained from 27 808 children (mean age 11.5 years, SD 0.5; 49.5% female), representing 85.9% of students at participating schools. Findings to date Demographic characteristics of participating schools and children are representative of the NSW population. Children completed items measuring Social Integration, Prosocial Behaviour, Peer Relationship Problems, Supportive Relationships (at Home, School and in the Community), Empathy, Emotional Symptoms, Conduct Problems, Aggression, Attention, Inhibitory Control, Hyperactivity-Inattention, Total Difficulties (internalising and externalising psychopathology), Perceptual Sensitivity, Psychotic-Like Experiences, Personality, Self-esteem, Daytime Sleepiness and Connection to Nature. Distributions of responses on each item and construct demarcate competencies and vulnerabilities within the population: most children report mental health and well-being, but the population distribution spanned the full range of possible scores on every construct. Future plans Multiagency, intergenerational linkage of the MCS data with health, education, child protection, justice and early childhood development records took place late in 2016. Linked data were used to elucidate patterns of risk and protection across early and middle child development, and these data will provide a foundation for future record linkages in the cohort that will track mental and physical health, social and educational/occupational outcomes into adolescence and early adulthood.

Openness to Experience has been shown to subsume two aspects called Openness and Intellect. The aim of this study was to examine the discriminant validity of Openness and Intellect in their relationship to Values, Interests, and Major Life Goals. Participants were 893 adults recruited into three studies who completed an online survey consisting of the Big Five Aspect Scales, Schwartz's Values, Holland's Interests, and Major Life Goals. Openness positively predicted Universalism Values in Study 1, and both Artistic Interests and Aesthetic Major Life Goals in all three samples. In contrast, Intellect was not significantly predictive of Values, Interests and Major Life Goals in any of the three studies. The implications of these findings for the discriminant validity of the two aspects are discussed.

Previous research has found university students report higher levels of psychological distress compared to the general population. Our aim was to investigate the degree to which personality and contextual factors predict psychological distress and well-being in students over the course of a semester. We also examined whether resilience-building skills, such as positive self-talk, mindfulness meditation and self-management, included in a first-year psychology subject, might reduce distress and improve well-being. Undergraduate first-year students (n = 150) completed a battery of questionnaires in week three (Time 1; n = 150) and week 10 (Time 2; n = 53) of semester. At both times students reported high levels of psychological distress, as measured by the K10, the General Health Questionnaire and the Brief Symptom Inventory, and low levels of psychological well-being, as measured by the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. Students exposed to resilience-building skills embedded in a subject (n = 24) were no less distressed at Time 2 than those not enrolled in that subject (n = 29). The personality traits of emotional resilience (vs. reactivity) and bounce-back resilience measured at Time 1 were the only significant predictors of psychological distress and well-being measured at Time 2. Students with high emotional and bounce-back resilience had lower psychological distress and higher well-being scores. Future research could consider development and trial of a full semester university subject designed to improve students' resilience knowledge and skills.

Purpose: The initial aim of this multiagency, multigenerational record linkage study is to identify childhood profiles of developmental vulnerability and resilience, and to identify the determinants of these profiles. The eventual aim is to identify risk and protective factors for later childhood-onset and adolescent-onset mental health problems, and other adverse social outcomes, using subsequent waves of record linkage. The research will assist in informing the development of public policy and intervention guidelines to help prevent or mitigate adverse longterm health and social outcomes. Participants: The study comprises a population cohort of 87 026 children in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW). The cohort was defined by entry into the first year of full-time schooling in NSW in 2009, at which time class teachers completed the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) on each child (with 99.7% coverage in NSW). The AEDC data have been linked to the children's birth, health, school and child protection records for the period from birth to school entry, and to the health and criminal records of their parents, as well as mortality databases. Findings to date: Descriptive data summarising sex, geographic and socioeconomic distributions, and linkage rates for the various administrative databases are presented. Child data are summarised, and the mental health and criminal records data of the children's parents are provided. Future plans: In 2015, at age 11 years, a self-report mental health survey was administered to the cohort in collaboration with government, independent and Catholic primary school sectors. A second record linkage, spanning birth to age 11 years, will be undertaken to link this survey data with the aforementioned administrative databases. This will enable a further identification of putative risk and protective factors for adverse mental health and other outcomes in adolescence, which can then be tested in subsequent record linkages.

We examined the construct validity of time management behaviour and work engagement, defined as a positive work-related state of mind. Two-hundred and eighty-one participants completed the Time Management Behaviour Scale, the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale - Student Version, and the Big Five Aspect Scales. Linear regression analyses revealed that time management behaviour was positively predicted by the Conscientiousness aspects, Industriousness and Orderliness. Work engagement variables were also predicted by Industriousness, and both aspects of Openness/Intellect. Openness significantly predicted vigor and dedication, while Intellect predicted absorption. These findings indicate that those higher in both time management behaviour and work engagement are more likely to use time effectively and minimise distractions. While individuals higher on time management behaviour are more likely to work in an orderly fashion, individuals higher in work engagement might be quicker to understand information. The implications for supporting students at university to learn more effectively are discussed in light of these findings.

Background: Over the past 70 years, there has been a recurring debate in the literature and in the popular press about how best to select medical students. This implies that we are still not getting it right: either some students are unsuited to medicine or the graduating doctors are considered unsatisfactory, or both.Aim: To determine whether particular variables at the point of selection might distinguish those more likely to become satisfactory professional doctors, by following a complete intake cohort of students throughout medical school and analysing all the data used for the students selection, their performance on a range of other potential selection tests, academic and clinical assessments throughout their studies, and records of professional behaviour covering the entire five years of the course.Methods: A longitudinal database captured the following anonymised information for every student (n = 146) admitted in 2007 to the Hull York Medical School (HYMS) in the UK: demographic data (age, sex, citizenship); performance in each component of the selection procedure; performance in some other possible selection instruments (cognitive and non-cognitive psychometric tests); professional behaviour in tutorials and in other clinical settings; academic performance, clinical and communication skills at summative assessments throughout; professional behaviour lapses monitored routinely as part of the fitness-to-practise procedures. Correlations were sought between predictor variables and criterion variables chosen to demonstrate the full range of course outcomes from failure to complete the course to graduation with honours, and to reveal clinical and professional strengths and weaknesses.Results: Student demography was found to be an important predictor of outcomes, with females, younger students and British citizens performing better overall. The selection variable "HYMS academic score", based on prior academic performance, was a significant predictor of components of Year 4 written and Year 5 clinical examinations. Some cognitive subtest scores from the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) and the UKCAT total score were also significant predictors of the same components, and a unique predictor of the Year 5 written examination. A number of the non-cognitive tests were significant independent predictors of Years 4 and 5 clinical performance, and of lapses in professional behaviour. First- and second-year tutor ratings were significant predictors of all outcomes, both desirable and undesirable. Performance in Years 1 and 2 written exams did not predict performance in Year 4 but did generally predict Year 5 written and clinical performance.Conclusions: Measures of a range of relevant selection attributes and personal qualities can predict intermediate and end of course achievements in academic, clinical and professional behaviour domains. In this study HYMS academic score, some UKCAT subtest scores and the total UKCAT score, and some non-cognitive tests completed at the outset of studies, together predicted outcomes most comprehensively. Tutor evaluation of students early in the course also identified the more and less successful students in the three domains of academic, clinical and professional performance. These results may be helpful in informing the future development of selection tools.

Background: The Personal Qualities Assessment (PQA), developed by the University of Newcastle, Australia to assess the aptitude of future medical professionals, has been used in Western countries. Purposes: The objective was to investigate whether the PQA is appropriate for Japanese medical school applicants. Methods: Two of the PQA tests, Libertarian-Dual-Communitarian moral orientations (Mojac) and Narcissism, Aloofness, Confidence, and Empathy (NACE), were translated into Japanese, and administered at the Tokyo Women's Medical University entrance examinations from 2007 to 2009. Results: The distributions of the applicants' Mojac and NACE scores were close to the normal distribution, and the mean scores did not exhibit a large difference from those in Western countries. The only significant difference was that the mean score of the NACE test was slightly lower than the Western norm. Conclusions: The translated PQA tests may be appropriate for use with Japanese applicants, though further research considering cultural differences is required.