{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T05:11:20Z","timestamp":1789017080545,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788998400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100013365","name":"West China Hospital, Sichuan University","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100013365","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Career planning is important for early-year medical students, yet the factors associated with it remain incompletely understood. This study examined the association between professional identity and career planning, with particular attention to the mediating roles of academic motivation and academic ability.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1,031 first- and second-year medical students from a Chinese university using cluster sampling. Self-reported measures assessed professional identity, academic motivation, academic ability, and career planning. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the proposed associations.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Career planning differed significantly across several demographic and educational-context characteristics. Professional identity was positively associated with career planning (\u03b2 = 0.42,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.001). Academic motivation and ability showed significant mediating effects, with a significant chain mediation effect through the sequential pathway from professional identity to academic motivation to academic ability to career planning [95% CI = (0.057, 0.107)].\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Professional identity was positively associated with career planning among early-year medical students, with significant mediating effects of academic motivation and ability. These findings suggest that professional identity, academic motivation, and academic ability may be relevant considerations in supporting early career development in medical education.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1821989","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]],"date-time":"2026-09-10T04:32:18Z","timestamp":1789014738000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Professional identity and career planning in early-year medical students: the chain mediation of academic motivation and ability"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Liang","family":"Zhou","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Student Affairs Management, West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huibing","family":"Guo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Student Affairs Management, West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yibei","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiang","family":"He","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Student Affairs Management, West China School of Medicine, West China Hospital, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Danmei","family":"Liang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"West China School of Medicine, Sichuan University","place":["Chengdu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1203","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1365-2923.2010.03712.x","article-title":"Second-year medical students' motivational beliefs, emotions, and achievement","volume":"44","author":"Artino","year":"2010","journal-title":"Med. 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