Maria Teresa Cortes¹, Eduardo Acosta-Arreguín¹, Mariana Fouilloux², Rocío García³, Ileana Petra^2,

Introduction. The Development and Personal Growth competency of medical students is relevant for their integral formation, so it has been important to include it in the curriculum. The purpose of this research is to describe the characteristics of this competency in students from the first year of the career of medicine in the middle of the school year and identify if any of the components of this factor influence his/her performance in school. Methodology. It is a descriptive and comparative study carried out with students from the first year medical school. Using a Likert type eleven-scale questionnaire (self-esteem, self-awareness, commitment, creativity, resilience and coping, self-criticisms and, optimism, empathy, commitment, assertiveness and leadership, Teamwork, social and interpersonal skills). Main findings. Less than a third of the students reported "always" or "usually" behaviors that account for a proper development in all of the eleven scales. Women obtained better scores than men in most of the scales of personal growth and development. Students from private educational institutions obtained higher scores self-awareness and emotional expression, on this scale than from public schools, and they obtained higher academic results. Conclusions and its significance. Taking into consideration the above, the purpose of this study is to associate these studied factors with one of the competencies “Development and Personal Growth”. It is very important that students who are going through this period receive support by not only Mental Health Programs, but by their teachers, that can participate by understanding and helping their students in these situations. So getting to know these weak links in the growth and development of our students may help us to develop strategies to improve cognitive, procedural skills and attitudes necessary for their professional life.

personal development, first year medical students