The Relationship Between Unprofessional Social Media Posts and Personality Traits Made by Physician Assistant Students

OBJECTIVES Research has indicated that physician assistant (PA) students use social media in their medical education; however, research is scant on whether PA students use social media unprofessionally. This study aimed to determine if PA students badmouth others or post pictures or comments depicting substance use and whether a relationship exists between personality and unprofessional posts. METHODS PA Program Directors were emailed and asked to disseminate an anonymous survey to their students. The survey included descriptive questions, questions regarding badmouthing and substance use posts, and the Mini-International Personality Item Pool. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Spearman's correlation coefficient, and Mann-Whitney U with p < .05 indicating significance. RESULTS Recruitment resulted in n = 497 participants. Clinical year students made significantly more alcohol-related posts than didactic students (p = .01) and were significantly less conscientious (p <= .01). Didactic students badmouthed professors significantly more than clinical year students (p < .05). Females made significantly more alcohol-related posts (p <= .01); however, males badmouthed friends more (p = .02). A statistically significant relationship was identified between extraversion and all types of badmouthing (p < .05), alcohol-related (p < .001), and recreational drug (p = .02) posts, and between neuroticism and badmouthing professors (p = .02); conversely there was a significant negative correlation between conscientiousness and badmouthing professors (p = .01). CONCLUSION Medical educational programs should address professionalism concerning social media with a program policy to encourage a professional and ethical digital profile.