– Results indicated that stereotype threat exerted a significant negative indirect effect on women’s science career choice intentions in physics but not chemistry (which was marginally nonsignificant).
– The finding of negative indirect effects of stereotype threat in both chemistry and physics classes supports the notion that threatening stereotypes are often activated very subtly in actual achievement situations.
– Although stereotype threat was not indirectly linked to SCI in chemistry, it did have a negative indirect effect on intent to engage in undergraduate research among women in chemistry labs.
– Decreased self-efficacy does not necessarily translate into a decreased likelihood of pursuing a career in science.
– Stereotype threat may not reduce women’s self-efficacy to levels that are low enough to undermine their ultimate career decisions. In other words, women may not rule out a career in science simply because their confidence has been damaged; they may simply need to engage in more research in order to make a more informed career decision.
– The physics participants in this study were much more likely to seek a career in science if they also intended to conduct undergraduate research.
– Extended exposure to scientific research appears to be an important step in the decision-making process for women contemplating science careers.
2014 - Feeling the Threat: Stereotype Threat as a Contextual Barrier to Women’s Science Career Choice Intentions
Social cognitive career theory holds that contextual barriers inhibit self-efficacy and goal choice intentions from points both near and far from the active career development situation. The authors also utilized stereotype threat. When a gender stereotype is ‘‘in the air’’ it is said to result in stereotype threat, the concern that is experienced when stigmatized individuals perceive themselves to be at risk of confirming a negative stereotype about their group.
The sample consisted of 457 female undergraduate students at universities in the northwest, southeast, and southwest United States. All data were collected using an Internet-based survey. As a condition of inclusion in the study, participants were required to be enrolled in a laboratory section of a chemistry or physics course. A total of 117 chemistry labs and 97 physics labs were sampled. Rosters containing student names and e-mail addresses were obtained from each university’s registrar’s office. Invitations to participate in an online survey were then sent via e-mail to eligible students at the midpoint of the academic term. A total of 4,081 students were contacted for participation (2,282 in chemistry and 1,799 in physics), resulting in an overall response rate of 11%.
The authors used three measures to create a composite variable for stereotype threat. The items were (a) ‘‘I worry that my ability to perform well in my science lab class is affected by my gender;’’ (b) ‘‘I worry that if I perform poorly in my science lab class, others will attribute my poor performance to my gender;’’ and (c) ‘‘I worry that, because I know the negative stereotype about women and science ability, my anxiety about confirming this stereotype will negatively influence how I perform in my science lab class.’’ Participants respond to the items on a Likert-type scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree.
The authors used the confidence learning science (CLS) subscale of the 30-item Science Motivation Questionnaire to measure science self-efficacy (SSE) in the study. The CLS subscale consists of 5 items that are conditioned on the statement ‘‘When I am in a college science course…’’ The authors also developed 3 items to measure student intent to engage in undergraduate research. Participants responded to the question ‘‘How likely would you be to …?’’ using the following items: (a) ‘‘pursue undergraduate research opportunities;’’ (b) ‘‘volunteer to work in a faculty research lab;’’ and (c) ‘‘volunteer to work on a faculty member’s research team.’’ .
Lastly, the authors measured women’s intentions to pursue a career in science with a dichotomously scored item- ‘‘I plan to pursue a career in science.’’