Abstract: Objective To investigate the current tendencies of critical thinking among undergraduate medical students in a certain university, to explore the differences in critical thinking among students with different characteristics, and inform the cultivation of critical thinking ability in medical students. Methods From February 24 to March 7, 2022, a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the critical thinking tendencies of 270 students in various majors such as clinical medicine from the first to fourth year in a certain university. Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test were used for statistical analysis. A generalized linear mixed model was constructed to analyze the influence of each factor on critical thinking. Results The total critical thinking score of the respondents was 292.00(36.25), which showed a positive nature. There was no statistically significant differences in the overall critical thinking scores of students by gender [294.50(35.50) vs. 290.50(39.25), P=0.956]; as observed for each trait, there were gender differences in four critical thinking traits, including analytical ability, systematization ability, self-confidence in critical thinking, and curiosity [45.00(6.00) vs. 43.00(7.00)、40.00(6.00) vs. 38.00(7.00)、40.00(6.00) vs. 38.00(7.00)、46.00(7.75) vs. 43.50(9.00), all P<0.05]. Conclusions Although most of the undergraduate medical students in a certain university showed positive critical thinking tendencies, a few of them still showed negative ones, and there were significant gender differences in some of the traits. Universities should attach importance to the guidance and cultivation of critical thinking tendencies among undergraduate medical student, especially the gender differences of each trait, and students' feedback while cultivating critical thinking.

Key words: Students, medical, Undergraduate education, Critical thinking, Current situation, Improvement strategies