A take on social wellbeing attributes by first year medical students.

OBJECTIVE To compare awareness about concept of social wellness in male and female first year medical students. METHODS It was a cross sectional, questionnaire based study conducted from February till December 2010. Responses on aspects of social wellness were rated never, sometimes, mostly and always from lowest to highest (1-4); evaluated as frequency, proportion and percentages by PASW (Predictive analysis software) version 18. Chi square test was applied for comparison of social wellness in both genders; results to be declared significant with p value < 0.05. RESULTS Overall score for social well being of females (20.24 +/- 4.50) was higher than male medical students (18.66 +/- 4.76; p < 0.0001). Majority of the female respondents believed that they exhibit fairness and justice in public dealing (p < 0.004), had a good network of close friends and family (p < 0.001), were prompt at helping batch fellows (p < 0.004), participated in group discussions (p < 0.004), followed dynamics of communication (p < 0.05) and were better at solving problems (p < 0.01) as compared to the male respondents. CONCLUSION The scores highlighted a better interaction of females with the social environment.