– Non-biology STEM majors showed lower person-oriented (PO) and higher thing-oriented (TO) interests than biology and health majors. Non-biology STEM majors also endorsed PO and TO interests at similar levels, but the other two major groups indicated higher PO than TO.
– People Jobs were perceived to more likely afford goals related to family and positive social impact; whereas Thing Jobs were perceived to more likely afford status goals.
– Interest in People Jobs was similar for women in both STEM major groups. Female non-biology STEM majors were equally interested in People and Thing Jobs; whereas biology majors preferred People Jobs.
– PO, TO, and goal affordance ratings independently predicted interest in People and Thing Jobs, and gender accounted for very little additional variance.
– Taken together, the findings point to the importance of using both person-thing orientation and role congruity theory when explaining varied gender representations in different STEM fields.
– Findings suggest that gender differences in thing-orientation and in degree to which occupations are perceived to afford Status and Social Impact goals might partially explain why there is a gender gap in some STEM majors and fields but not others.
2015 - Gender Differences in STEM Undergraduates’ Vocational Interests: People-thing Orientation and Goal Affordances
The sample initially included 2139 undergraduate students (53.9% Male) recruited from STEM courses at two different public universities in the U.S. Only students in computer science, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, biology, or health majors were included in analyses. Students double majoring across more than one of these categories were also excluded from the analyses.
Two procedures were used to recruit this sample. First, researchers went to STEM class sessions to administer the questionnaire. Then, students were emailed from course enrollment lists and provided with comparable information as in the face-to-face condition.
Measures included people- and thing-orientation, and interest and goal affordance ratings of occupations. Participants also reported their gender, age, and race, choosing from categories provided on the questionnaire.