Characteristics of the first-year medical students (N=843)
| Variable | n (%) |
| Gender | |
| Male | 361 (42.82) |
| Female | 482 (57.18) |
| Duration of the medical programme (years) | |
| 5 | 644 (76.39) |
| 8 | 199 (23.61) |
| Household registration area | |
| Rural | 572 (67.85) |
| Urban | 256 (30.37) |
| Missing | 15 (1.78) |
| Annual household income (¥) | |
| ≤20 000 | 171 (20.28) |
| 20,000–50 000 | 201 (23.84) |
| 50 000–100 000 | 386 (45.79) |
| ≥100 000 | 60 (7.12) |
| Missing | 25 (2.97) |
| Fathers’ educational level | |
| Junior high school and below | 265 (31.44) |
| High school | 255 (30.25) |
| University degree | 312 (37.01) |
| Missing | 11 (1.30) |
| Fathers’ occupation* | |
| Legislators, senior officials and managers | 171 (20.28) |
| Professionals, technicians and associate professionals | 121 (14.35) |
| Clerical support workers | 48 (5.69) |
| Service and sales workers | 117 (13.88) |
| Skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers | 103 (12.22) |
| Craft and related trades workers, plant and machine operators and assemblers | 78 (9.25) |
| Other | 192 (22.78) |
| Missing | 13 (1.54) |
*Based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-08)46