Abstract:  Objective　To investigate the mental health status of resident physicians undergoing standardized residency training, analyze the relationship between short-term psychological distress and relatively stable personality traits, identify individuals at high potential psychological risk.Methods　A psychological assessment was conducted among 692 resident physicians using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). After excluding invalid responses based on response time and logical consistency, 572 valid questionnaires were included in the final analysis. Descriptive statistics and Spearman rank correlation analyses were performed to examine associations among all dimensions of the two scales. Meanwhile, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 160 resident physicians to explore their short-term psychological distress and personality traits, coping experiences, and perceived stressors, thereby providing contextual interpretation and supplementation of the quantitative findings.Results　Both the SCL-90 and MMPI demonstrated satisfactory internal consistency and structural adequacy in the study sample. Correlation analyses indicated generally weak associations between MMPI clinical scales and corresponding SCL-90 symptom dimensions. Specifically, the MMPI depression scale was weakly negatively correlated with the SCL-90 depression factor (r=-0.11, P<0.001), and the MMPI psychasthenia scale was weakly negatively correlated with the SCL-90 anxiety factor (r=-0.11, P<0.001). No significant correlations were observed for other corresponding dimensions. Qualitative findings suggested that short-term psychological distress experienced by resident physicians did not necessarily align with their underlying personality traits, indicating a potential discrepancy between transient stress responses and relatively stable psychological characteristics.Conclusion　The findings indicate approximately 36.19% of resident physicians were identified as having subclinical psychological problems. The SCL-90 primarily captures short-term psychological symptoms and subjective stress experiences, whereas the MMPI reflects relatively stable personality traits and coping patterns. The combined use of these instruments enables a multidimensional assessment of residents' mental health status, providing an evidence base for stratified interventions, psychological risk identification and refined educational management.

Key words:  , standardized residency training｜ mental health｜ survey study｜ scale comparison｜ medical education and management