– Both male and female career aspirations for being a scientist are predictable based on knowledge of dispositions toward mathematics, science and engineering, plus self-reported creative tendencies.
– For males, strong predictors are creative tendencies and dispositions toward science, while dispositions toward mathematics is a weaker but still a significant predictor.
– For females, significant predictors ordered by strength of contribution are dispositions toward science, creative tendencies and dispositions toward mathematics.
– For females, science became more closely aligned with STEM Career Interest during the course of participating in the project and tended to still be aligned in that manner two years later.
– Additional analyses indicate that engineering appears to be more closely aligned with STEM career aspirations for females than for males.