Abstract: Objective Understand the initial motivation of medical students for learning medicine.Reveal the influence of motivation on academic performance.Provide scientific basement for medical students on later efficient medical training and educating. Methods Before the investigation,a questionnaire was designed based on relevant references.Students in eastern Guangdong were recruited.A self-management questionnaire was applied to investigate the family background and the initial motivation for learning medicine.The relative factors about learning medicine and academic performance were analyzed. Results Sex is insignificant between different medical motivations.However,the grade point average (GPA) of female students is higher than that of male students,which is significant among academic performance (P<0.01).The academic performance of students from different grades is significant.The higher the grade,the lower mean GPA is (F=3.146,P<0.05).Source of students significantly affects academic performance.The average GPA of students from countryside is more than students from other places (F=6.470,P<0.01).Academic performance affected by multiple motivations,followed by intrinsic motivation (F=2.424,P<0.05),saving life (F=0.131,P<0.005) and extrinsic motivation (F=1.824,P<0.05),social status (F=0.186,P<0.05) and social morality (F=0.118,P<0.05) which are significant between different medical motivations. Conclusion Family background has multiple influences on learning motivation of medical students.Multiple learning motivations affect academic performance.