Abstract

Background: Medical education must encourage autonomous learning behaviors among students. However the great income profile disparity among university students may influence their capacity to acquire such skills. Aim: To assess the association between self-directed learning, socio-demographic and academic variables. Material and Methods: The self-directed learning readiness scale was applied to 202 medical students aged between 17 and 25 years (64% males). Simultaneously information about each surveyed participant was obtained from the databases of the medical school. Results: There is an association between socio-demographic and academic variables with the general scale of self-directed learning and the subscales learning planning and willingness to learn. Participants coming from municipal schools have a greater willingness to learn than their counterparts coming from subsidized and private schools. High school grades are related to self-directed learning and the subscales learning planning and self-assessment. Conclusions: Among the surveyed medical students, there is a relationship between self-directed learning behaviors, the type of school where they come from and the grades that they obtained during high school.