Cultural competency in medical education: demographic differences associated with medical student communication styles and clinical clerkship feedback.
PURPOSE: We tested the significance of associations among students' demographics, communication styles, and feedback received during clerkships. METHODS: US medical students who completed at least one required clinical clerkship were invited between April and July 2006 to complete an anonymous, online survey inquiring about demographics, communication styles (assertiveness and reticence), feedback (positive and negative), and clerkship grades. The effects of self-identified race/ethnicity, gender, and generation (immigrant, first- or second-generation American) and their 2-way interactions on assertiveness, reticence, total positive and total negative feedback comments were tested using factorial analysis of covariance, controlling for age, clerkship grades, and mother's and father's education; pairwise comparisons used simple contrasts. Two-sided P values