Social Background of Japanese Medical Students

Utilizing data from a survey of Japanese students enrolled in three Tokyo-area medical schools, this study attempts to ascertain the influence of socioeconomic background variables and parental encouragement on the decision to enter the medical profession. The results reveal considerable influence of such socioeconomic variables as father's educational level, father's occupation, and mother's educational level on career choice. The encouragement of fathers—especially physician fathers—is significant, resulting in a high proportion of students manifesting the pattern of occupational inheritance. The results suggest that the status attainment model is quite relevant to the experiences of Japanese youth and that its applicabilty warrants rigorous testing by a longitudinal study of a much larger sample of Japanese youth.