Abstract: Objective To explore the current sources of stress for medical graduates and their personality characteristics and social support. Methods 208 Peking Union Medical College postgraduates were surveyed by questionnaire with the Graduate Student Stressor Scale, Symptom Checking List (SCL-90), NEO Five-Factor Inventory and Perceived social support scale (PSSS). Results According to the five common stressors such as academic, economic, employment, physical and mental health, and tutor relationship, single-factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there were significant differences in the composition of pressure sources between different sexes and grades. Univariate correlation analysis showed that all five dimensions of stressors had a significant positive correlation with anxiety and depression symptom. There was a positive correlation between stressor and neurotic personality, and significant negative correlation with extroversion and rigorous personality. Furthermore, the stressors were significant negative correlation with perceived social support. Conclusions Medical graduate students are under various pressures at present. It is necessary to pay more attention to the education and training in the future and adopt diversified measures to rationalize them.

Key words: medical graduate student, stressors, personality characteristics, perceiving social support