Publication

Aims: The purpose of this study was to examine how parental requests and expectations are associated with Japanese medical students’ ability to cope with stressors. Methods: Medical students in their first through fourth years ( n=283) were included in the analysis after excluding those with missing responses. A self-administered questionnaire consisted of questions involving demographic factors ( e.g., age, sex) , family circumstances, and parental expectations, the 13-item short form version of the SOC scale, and the Student Support scale. Multiple regression analysis was applied to examine the association of parental requests and expectations with a sense of coherence and its three subfactors, using age, grade, gender, and the Student Support Scale score. Results: Parental opposition to career paths was found to be negatively associated with manageability. Moreover, humanistic expectations from the father were positively associated with a sense of meaningfulness, whereas taking the expectations of the father as a burden were negatively associated with manageability. Conclusions: These findings suggest a negative relationship between parental opposition to career paths and manageability, as well as a positive relationship between a father’s humanistic expectations and meaningfulness. These results indicate that parental requests and expectations are electively associated with the ability to cope with stressors in medical students.