Breaking it Down: Engineering Student STEM Confidence at the Intersection of Race/Ethnicity and Gender

  1. Although some underrepresented groups may have lower STEM confidence overall, this finding no longer applies to all groups after controlling for personal, environmental, and behavioral factors. Specifically, African-American and Hispanic men report higher average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these associated measures.
  2. White women continue to report lower average STEM confidence than White men after controlling for these measures, while other groups do not differ from White men.
  3. Both Hispanic and African-American women report similar levels of confidence to White men after controlling for these measures.
  4. Given the disproportionate academic, economic, and social disadvantages these students often face in high school, overcoming these challenges and being selected to enroll in engineering could indicate that they already had high levels of STEM confidence.
  5. Many elements of student perception, including student views of professors, comparisons to peers, perceptions of the field as rewarding, and desirability of chosen major are positively associated with student STEM confidence.
  6. The changing patterns of significance for race/ethnicity and gender groups between the two models indicate that personal, environmental, and behavioral factors have different relationships with STEM confidence levels for different groups.