Intellectual Merit: The University of Alabama Tuscaloosa is investigating how life goals and gender roles interact to effect changes in STEM career interests and college majors over the course of the college years. The study will: a) systematically examine multiple aspects of communal goals, including marriage, family, and helping; b) investigate the impact of romantic relationship goals and the gender roles that accompany them in predicting women?s STEM interest; and c) examine how Biology majors, where women are more represented, compare to other STEM majors with respect to life goals and gender roles. The project will meet these objectives through a longitudinal study of college students who are considering a major in STEM. First and third year STEM students will be surveyed about their life goals, perceptions of gender roles, and career interests at three time points approximately one year apart. A subset of women in serious romantic relationships and their partners will complete additional measures about their expectations for their future work, relationship, and family roles. The research will document changes in majors and career interests and their association with changes in life goals and perceptions of gender roles. Both survey and experimental methods are used to measure these constructs.
Broader Impacts: The proposed research will fill a significant gap in what educators know and understand about STEM career decisions during the critical college years and thus can facilitate the development of strategies for retaining more women in STEM majors. In particular, if women can be shown ways in which important life goals can be met while having a STEM career, they may be more likely to remain in a STEM field. Research infrastructure will be improved by forging relationships between professionals involved in STEM education research and practice with those with more basic psychological research interests, leading to cross-fertilization between practice and research.
