Cultural Consistency in Australian Dental Students from Two Different Ethnic Backgrounds

The objective of this study was to examine the value orientations of dental students from different ethnic backgrounds studying in Australian dental schools. A ninety-eight-item questionnaire was used to collect the data, including fifteen sub scales developed consistent with the Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck value orientation model. To compare the value orientation structure and to determine if any ethnic differences existed, a multivariate analysis of variance called profile analysis was performed on the fifteen value sub scales. Of the 401 participants, 30.2 percent were Anglo-Australian and 44.9 percent were Asian. The remainder (24.9 percent) were "Other-background residents" or "Other-international students". This article presents data from Asian (n=184) and Anglo-Australian (n=124) background respondents.