– There were significant race by gender differences in students’ education and STEM occupational plans.
– Race and gender differences exsist in perceived cost utility and efficacy of education and occupation outcomes.
– Depending on the definition of STEM careers operationalized in the analysis, variation can be observed in the impact of gender, while the role of the expectancy-value constructs remains largely consistent across multiple definitions of STEM careers.
– While expectancy-value constructs such as utility, interest, and attainment value are significantly related to the STEM career plans of White students, fewer significant relationships between expectancy-value constructs and the STEM career plans of Black and Hispanic students were identified.
2018 - STEM Career Aspirations in Black, Hispanic, and White Ninth-grade Students
The framework for this study is expectancy-value theory, as well as theories of identity and identity formation.
This study used data from the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009, which is a longitudinal study from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The analytic sample consisted of 18,000 students (13% Black, 20% Hispanic, and 67% White).
DV: categorical variables representing types of educational and occupational plans: (i) not intending to complete a 4-year degree and not planning on a STEM occupation, (ii) not intending to complete a 4-year degree but planning on a STEM occupation, (iii) intending to complete a 4-year degree and not planning on a STEM occupation, and (iv) intending to complete a 4-year degree and planning on a STEM occupation.
IV: race (Black, Hispanic, White, or multiracial), gender, socioeconomic status , intersectionality, math achievement, percieved social cost of being in STEM
The first multinomial regression model used the definition of STEM occupations that excluded healthcare occupations. This model used the outcome “Non-BA/Non-STEM” as the base category. The second regression model used in this study was identical to the first model, except the dependent variable was changed to classify healthcare occupations as STEM occupations (STEMM), in order to explore how factors related to career aspirations change when the definition of a STEM career is changed to include healthcare and allied fields.