Psychological Androgyny and Preference in Loss-framed Gamhles of Medical Students

Abstract

Physician decisions concerning allocation of health care resources to patients are highly variable and poorly understood. Psychological androgyny theory (PAT) has been employed as a model of the interpersonal and task activities required of physicians for care of their patients. Several studies have successfully predicted physician resource utilization using measures derived from PAT. Using a sample of 97 first-year medical students, the authors explored the relationship between PAT and risk preference in loss-framed gambles in order to elucidate the process whereby variables derived from PAT predict resource utilization. As hypothesized, students selecting the certain loss had significantly higher mean androgyny scores than did students selecting uncertainty. Research involving these constructs is in tegrated in the context of a theoretical "causal model," which highlights issues deserving of future research. Key words: androgyny; medical resource utilization; medical students; risk preference. (Med Decis Making 1991;11:176-179)