– Role model exposure had positive effects on both STEM and non-STEM students’ interest in STEM as well as their perceived identity compatibility between the self and STEM.
– When students read about a diverse set of successful STEM professionals who attained their success through hard work, they reported higher interest in STEM and greater perceived identity compatibility between self and STEM.
– Role model exposure had a positive impact on academic sense of belonging among STEM and non-STEM students, and a positive impact on academic self-efficacy among STEM students, but not non-STEM students.
– Although exposure to STEM role models had a positive effect on academic sense of belonging and academic self-efficacy, role model exposure did not have a significant effect on academic expectations or educational degree intention.
– Reading about successful STEM role models who were mostly women increased women’s perceived fit between being a woman and being in STEM.
– Unexpectedly and importantly, men’s perceived identity compatibility between gender and STEM also increased. One possible explanation is that some of the biographies in the present study discussed how STEM fields are often perceived as traditionally male-dominant fields, and some of the role models were male, which may have strengthened men’s perceived fit between being a man and being in STEM. This finding is important because it suggests that exposure to role models who were
mostly female did not have a negative effect on men.
– Also unexpectedly, role model exposure increased men’s perceived identity compatibility between gender and non-STEM.