This is a longitudinal, quantitative study to examine the roles of gender and ethnic identification in the development of high school students STEM values, expectancies, and achievement behaviors within the framework of the Eccles Expectancy Value Model of achievement behaviors, which proposes that engaging in certain educational behaviors, such as course taking are the product of an individual's expectations for success and its perceived value or importance. The PI seeks to expand this model to specifically address the unique contributions of social identity factors in STEM engagement. This study will follow the students via self-reports across 3 years to gather insight into continuity and change over time. Participants will be adolescent 10th, 11th and 12th graders, who are a mixture of white, black, Latino and Asian Americans. Parents or primary guardians of the adolescents will be included in the study. The initial sample of 256 students (32 per gender x ethnic group) was extended to include 100 additional students and parents. The participants will be a representative sample of public high school students and their families in the school district of Philadelphia PA.
The research will examine possible conflicts between gender and ethnic stereotypes. One example is a perceived conflict between the math competency associated with Asians and the negative gender stereotype associated with an Asian female. The primary research questions are: 1) How do gender and ethnicity interact in academic identification and STEM achievement behaviors; 2) Which factors put female and ethnic minority students at risk for not pursuing STEM; and 3) Are these constructs and processes stable from 10th to 12th grade. The quantitative analyses will focus on regression analysis; however, structured equation modeling (SEM) may also be utilized.
The proposed study will provide new knowledge and understanding to the fields of educational, social, and developmental psychology, STEM education, and education policy through the development of a stronger conceptualization of the social/cognitive factors responsible for the participation of girls and ethnic minorities in STEM. The project will provide data absent in earlier studies on attitudes of students of color as well as a point of departure for education researchers and policymakers, whose goal is to develop effective motivational strategies to increase the participation of female students of color in STEM education and careers. Further the knowledge to be gained from this research is central to the development of curricular programs designed to target such groups, i.e., programs that respond to the specific educational disseminated among parents and the community as well as scientists and educators. The PI will mentor graduate psychology students in research methods; undergraduate students and females will be given preference in recruitment.
