– Parental education predicted mathematics and science course taking in high school and college, and this relationship was partially mediated by students’ and parents’ future identity and motivational beliefs concerning mathematics and science.
– A high school student who expects to do well in STEM topics, who values STEM, and who also possesses a future identity that involves a STEM career should be more likely to opt into advanced STEM courses, placing the student on a trajectory toward more STEM opportunities, including majors and careers.
– Expectations for success possessed by both the students and their parents may help shape their future identities in STEM, suggesting that competency in STEM may play a role in developing a STEM-dependent future identity.
– Results showed that subjective task value was a mediator of the effects of future identities on course taking.
– These findings suggest that psychological interventions may be useful for reducing social class gaps in STEM course taking.
* STEM identity and STEM course taking