Influence of Gender, Class Year, Academic Performance and Paternal Socioeconomic Status on Learning Style Preferences among Dental Students

Introduction: Satisfaction with student learning is a big challenge for instructors in dental education. However, better understanding of learning style preferences and their associated factors can help provide rewarding learning experience to the students. Aim: The study evaluated the influence of gender, class year, academic performance and paternal socioeconomic status on learning style preferences among dental students. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included male and female students (second-year to six-year class) from a dental college. The Visual, Aural, Read/write and Kinesthetic (VARK) questionnaire version 7.8 was used to collect data about students’ preferences for VARK learning modes. Gender, socioeconomic status, year of study, and Grade Point Average (GPA) were independent variables in the study. Chi-square test and Kruskal Wallis H test were performed to evaluate the influence of these independent variables on learning style preferences. Results: Of 452 students, 389 returned the questionnaires with a response rate of 86.06%. The sample comprised 46.5% of male and 53.5% of female students. Mean age of students was 20.42±0.99 years. In the study, 76% dental students preferred unimodal learning style, of which kinesthetic was the most common (23.7%) style. Male students predominantly (29%) preferred multimodal while most female students (23%) demonstrated kinesthetic style. Preclinical students had the highest proportion of multimodal learners (25.7%) whereas clinical year students had the highest percent of visual learners (24.2%) with (p-value=0.038). The students with high GPA preferred multimodal learning style (25.4%) whereas most of the students with low GPA (32.9%) learned through doing things (kinesthetic). No significant influence of gender, GPA, and of paternal income and education on learning styles was observed. Conclusion: Most students had preferences for unimodal learning style. Paternal income and education, gender and GPA had no significant association with learning style preferences.