en آموزش پزشکی Medical Education پژوهشي اصیل Orginal Research <span style="line-height:2;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="font-size:16px;"><b>Background & Objective: </b>Self-Directed Learning (SDL) is essential for medical students to develop lifelong learning skills. This study aimed to evaluate SDL readiness and examine how demographic characteristics affect medical students at Zanjan University of Medical Sciences.<br> <b>Materials & Methods:</b> We used a cross-sectional design with 201 purposefully sampled medical students. Data were collected using Fisher&rsquo;s 40-item validated SDL readiness instrument, available in Persian. We analyzed the data using SPSS version 26 with independent-samples t-tests and a one-way ANOVA. Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05.<br> <b>Results:</b> The mean SDL score was 160.88 &plusmn; 17.25, showing high readiness based on scale criteria. No differences in SDL scores were found between males and females (p = 0.448) or by educational level (p = 0.414). SDL scores were significantly lower for students aged 19&ndash;21 compared to those aged 22&ndash;23 (p = 0.014) or &ge; 24 years (p = 0.017).<br> <b>Conclusion:</b> Overall, SDL readiness is high and positively associated with age and maturity, rather than educational level or gender. This suggests teaching methods should be included in the curriculum to create environments where self-directed learning can thrive, particularly for younger medical students.</span></span></span><br> &nbsp; learning, students, medical, education, medical, surveys and questionnaires 92 96 http://edujournal.zums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-12-3360-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Giti Karimkhanlooei somayaesabet@gmail.com 5300319475328460036591 5300319475328460036591 No Department of English Language, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran Somayae Abdollahi Sabet gitikarimkhanlooei@gmail.com 5300319475328460036592 5300319475328460036592 Yes Department of Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran Fereshteh Pashazadeh ferferipashaee@gmail.com 5300319475328460036593 5300319475328460036593 No School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran