Affiliation:
1. Department of Psychology Lewis & Clark College Portland Oregon USA
2. School of Education University of California Irvine California USA
Abstract
AbstractIntroductionParents' science support and adolescents' motivational beliefs are associated with adolescents' expectations for their future occupations; however, these associations have been mostly investigated among White, middle‐class samples. Framed by situated expectancy‐value theory, the current study investigated: (1) the associations between parents' science support in 9th grade and Latine adolescents' science intrinsic value, utility value, and STEM career expectations in 11th grade, and (2) whether these indicators and the relations among them differed by adolescents' gender and parents' education.MethodsStudy participants included Latine adolescents (n = 3060; Mage = 14.4 years old; 49% female) in the United States from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009.ResultsAnalyses revealed a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latine adolescents' science utility value. Additionally, there was a significant, positive association between parents' science support and Latinas' science intrinsic value, but not for Latinos' science intrinsic value. Latine adolescents' science utility value, but not their science intrinsic value, predicted their concurrent STEM career expectations. Though there were no significant mean level differences in adolescents' science utility value or parents' science support based on adolescents' gender, the measure of adolescents' science intrinsic value varied across girls and boys. Finally, adolescents whose parents had a college degree received greater science support from parents compared to adolescents whose parents had less education than a college degree.ConclusionFindings suggest parents' science support and adolescents' intrinsic and utility values have potential associations with Latine adolescents' STEM career expectations near the end of high school.
Funder
National Science Foundation
Reference95 articles.
1. To grab and to hold: Cultivating communal goals to overcome cultural and structural barriers in first-generation college students’ science interest.
2. Expectancy-Value Models for the STEM Persistence Plans of Ninth-Grade, High-Ability Students: A Comparison Between Black, Hispanic, and White Students
3. Is science me? High school students' identities, participation and aspirations in science, engineering, and medicine
4. The roles of teachers, classroom experiences, and finding balance: A qualitative perspective on the experiences and expectations of females within STEM and non‐STEM careers;Banerjee M.;International Journal of Gender, Science and Technology,2018
5. Why they leave: the impact of stereotype threat on the attrition of women and minorities from science, math and engineering majors