The Relationship between Critical Thinking Disposition and Self-Esteem

Introduction: Critical Thinking Disposition indicates individual’s inclination to Critical Thinking, which is one of the domains of personality. Individual characteristics are important and influential factors in the growth and development of students’ Critical Thinking. One of these influential characteristics might be self-esteem, thus this study was to determine the correlation between Critical Thinking Disposition and self-esteem in medical students.

Methods: In an analytical cross-sectional study, 289 medical students were selected through stratified random sampling method in Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2011. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire containing 3 parts: demographic data, California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, and Cooper-Smith Self-Esteem Inventory. The results were analyzed by SPSS-16 using descriptive statistics, Pearson and Spearman Correlation Coefficient, ANOVA, Chi-Square and Fisher exact test.

Results: Results showed that 98.6% (285) of students had deficiency, 1.4% (4) ambivalence and nobody had positive critical thinking disposition. There was a significantly negative correlation between Critical Thinking Disposition and self-esteem (r=-0.462, P<0.001). Also, there was no a significant relationship between two groups of low self-esteem , high self-esteem , negative and ambivalent Critical Thinking Disposition.

Conclusion: It seems that Critical Thinking Disposition, like other psychological variables, is influenced by social factors and social environment plays a role in promoting or undermining it. So, similar studies are recommended to investigate the factors affecting Critical Thinking in medical students.