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Structural diagram for WSFW United States male and female adolescents. Mom perc = Moms’ perceptions; Chem. career = Chemistry career. Paired parameters indicate standardised structural paths for male/female adolescents for scalar invariant SEM; grade measured is presented in brackets for each construct. Not represented are measurement errors, uniquenesses, intercepts or variances (refer to Table 6). All single-item indicators were specified to have loadings of 1 and 0 measurement error. * p < .05. ** p < .01. *** p < .001
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Although women have made progress in entering scientific careers in biology, they remain underrepresented in mathematically intensive fields such as physics. We investigated whether gender differences in mathematics motivation and socialisers’ perceptions impacted choices for diverse STEM careers of varying mathematical intensity. Drawing on expect...
Citations
... This attribution process is often used to explain why girls and boys develop different ability beliefs in domains like mathematics, although they tend to perform similarly in standardized tests (Perez-Felkner et al., 2017). In line with the SEVT, mathematical self-concepts and interests have been consistently found to strongly predict STEM career aspirations, and their predictive power tends to outweigh the predictive power of actual skill levels in mathematics (Eccles & Wang, 2016;Sax et al., 2015;Watt et al., 2017). ...
The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is now an integral part of many occupational task profiles. Therefore, like mathematics and science, ICT represent an important content domain that adolescents may consider in their early vocational choices. Drawing on Eccles’ situated expectancy value theory and related theories, we hypothesize that adolescents’ ICT interest and self-concept should influence their vocational choices with respect to the intensity of ICT use in future occupations. Using longitudinal data from 1,964 Swiss adolescents transitioning into firm-based vocational education and training, we find strongly gendered patterns. Higher ICT interest predicts selection into occupations involving greater intensity of both basic and advanced ICT use, but only for girls. A more positive ICT self-concept is a significant predictor of greater occupational ICT use in future occupations only for boys, and this association is driven mainly by boys choosing careers as ICT specialists. Girls’ lower average ICT interest and their less positive ICT self-concepts explain almost half of the gender differences in the intensity of advanced ICT use. These findings emphasize that ICT are an important content domain of adolescents’ vocational choices today and highlight how gendered interests and self-concepts towards ICT perpetuate occupational gender segregation.
... While maths achievement in adolescence has long been demonstrated to predict STEM participation and career choice in adulthood 7,8 , research has shown that socio-cognitive and emotional factors may be as crucial for STEM career decision-making during this time 9,10 . Maths anxiety and maths motivational attitudes, such as maths self-efficacy and maths interest, are separately associated with student STEM participation 9,[11][12][13] , although few studies have considered their combined impact on STEM career choice. Here, we tested the relationships between maths anxiety, maths self-efficacy, maths interest and STEM career participation in emerging adulthood using data from a UK-wide cohort. ...
... For example, a longitudinal study tracking 14,000 US students found that maths self-efficacy predicted enrolment intentions on STEM-related courses, independent of prior maths achievement and socioeconomic status 21 . Both maths selfefficacy and interest were also found to predict STEM course intentions in an Australian sample after controlling for maths achievement 13 . However, support for SCCT is not always consistent. ...
... Research exploring the influence of maths motivational attitudes on STEM participation and career choice reports very few sex differences in the relationship 21,35,39 . However, one study noted that maths self-efficacy was associated with STEM career interest in females but not males, whereas maths interest was associated for males but not females 13 . Fewer studies have considered sex differences in the impact of maths anxiety on STEM career choice, however, longitudinal research has shown that, in males, but not females, higher maths anxiety predicts lower future maths self-efficacy 37 . ...
To examine the combined effects of maths anxiety (MA), maths self-efficacy (MSE), and maths interest (MI) on STEM career choice, we analysed self-report data from 7908 Twins Early Development Study participants, collected at ages 16 (MSE, MI), 18 (MA) and 21 (STEM career choice). When analysed in the same model, MSE did not independently predict STEM career choice. MI (OR = 1.75) was a stronger predictor than MA (OR = 0.79), which was not significant after controlling for maths achievement. MI was a significant positive predictor of STEM career choices for both males (OR = 1.88) and females (OR = 1.77). However, MA was only predictive for males (OR = 0.62), and MSE was only predictive for females in the unadjusted model (OR = 1.77). These results highlight the importance of nurturing maths interest to bridge the STEM skills gap, regardless of sex. Future research should consider the co-development of maths-related psychological constructs to further understand their influence on STEM career paths.
... Finally, computing is a special case that has traditionally attracted attention in academic career studies (e.g., Branch & Alegria, 2016;Fox & Kline, 2016;Fox & Xiao, 2013;Fox et al., 2017) along with mathematics (Mihaljević & Santamaría, 2020;Mihaljević-Brandt et al., 2016;Watt et al., 2017). Participation in computing is especially challenging: In 38 OECD countries in 2021, 18.20% of women published in COMP, with the percentage only slightly higher for the youngest generation of publishing scientists (20.65%, publishing experience of no more than 5 years) and with 113 years needed for gender parity (50/50) and 78 years needed for gender balance (40/60), based on current participation trends (Kwiek & Szymula, 2023). ...
In the present research, we explore how members of the global scientific community leave academic science and how attrition differs across genders, academic disciplines, and over time. Our approach is global, cohort-based, and longitudinal: we track individual male and female scientists over time and quantify the phenomenon traditionally referred to as “leaving science.” Using publication metadata from Scopus—a global bibliometric database of publications and citations—we follow the details of the publishing careers of scientists who started publishing in 2000 (N = 142,776) and 2010 (N = 232,843). Our study is restricted to 16 STEMM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine), and we track the individual scholarly output of the two cohorts until 2022. Survival analyses show that attrition becomes ever less gendered, while regression models show that publication quantity is more consequential than publication quality for careers. Behind the aggregated changes at the level of all STEMM disciplines combined, widely nuanced changes were found to occur at the level of disciplines and over time. Attrition in science means different things for men versus women depending on the discipline; moreover, it means different things for scientists from different cohorts entering the scientific workforce. Finally, global bibliometric datasets were tested in this study, opening new opportunities to explore gender and disciplinary differences in attrition.
... Situated expectancy-value theory (SEVT, Eccles & Wigfield, 2020) and its predecessor, expectancy-value theory (EVT, Eccles (Parsons) et al., 1983), offer a robust framework for predicting and explaining individuals' achievement-related choices, including academic decisions and career expectations. This framework has been widely applied to examine the factors influencing academic choices, such as high school and college majors (e.g., Andersen & Ward, 2014;Caspi et al., 2019;Harackiewicz et al., 2016;Watt et al., 2017), as well as career aspirations and expectations (e.g., Ahmed & Mudrey, 2019;Carrico et al., 2016;Lv et al., 2022;Wang & Degol, 2013). ...
Background
We tested the broad generality of a model for predicting 9th–10th grade students’ STEM career expectations by age 30, focusing on hard science, mathematics and engineering professions only, known for driving innovation, research and development. The model’s predictors included motivation to learn mathematics, gender, and math classroom environments (disciplinary climate, teacher support and instructional strategies fostering conceptual understanding).
Methods
We used data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022. Four countries were selected based on the percentage of students expecting STEM careers, representing high vs. low groups (Qatar and Morocco vs. Czech Republic and Lithuania, respectively). Analysis began with computing correlations between the variables, followed by path analyses for each country to determine both direct and indirect effects of the predictors on students’ STEM career expectations.
Results
We found that motivation to learn mathematics not only directly predicted STEM career expectations but also mediated the influence of the remaining variables: gender (boys show higher motivation to learn math), and math classroom environments (students in well-disciplined math classes with supportive teachers who employ instructional strategies fostering math reasoning also demonstrate higher motivation to learn math). Remarkably, our model consistently demonstrated robustness across all four countries, despite their significant economic, ethnic, and religious diversity.
Conclusions
Theoretically, the model reveals that 9th–10th grade students’ transitory long-term STEM career expectations are shaped by their interest in mathematics, their perceived importance of the subject, confidence in their self-efficacy to succeed in math tasks, perceptions of classroom disciplinary climate, teacher support, and their exposure to instructional strategies aimed at enhancing math reasoning. Practically, it suggests widespread potential for informing interventions aimed at increasing student motivation to pursue STEM careers through improved mathematics education practices.
... As students may experience unfair treatment for a range of different reasons, in the current study we did not indicate a reason (such as one's gender or ability), but instead asked participants to make attributions for why they believe the unfair treatment occurred. This study centers on adolescence, as this is a key developmental period for persistence in STEM (i.e., when student engagement in STEM often wanes; Joy et al., 2023;Moss-Racusin et al., 2018) and when students are making choices about which classes to take (Sadler et al., 2014) as well as what career paths they want to follow Watt et al., 2017). In particular, we focus on ninth and tenth graders. ...
This study explores adolescents' evaluations of unfair teacher and peer behavior in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classes. Participants included ninth and tenth grade students from five public schools in the Southeastern United States, ( N = 577, 45.9% female, 49% male, 5% other/prefer not to say/unsure). Students were ethnically representative of their communities: 48% White/European American, 22.7% Black/African American, 14% Latino/a/e/x, and 15.3% multi‐racial/other/prefer not to say. Measures assessed adolescents' responses to hypothetical scenarios of unfair treatment. The findings indicate that adolescents recognize both teacher and peer unfair behavior as wrong, with nuanced differences based on participants' gender and grade. Attribution analysis reveals varied expected reasons for unfair treatment. Responses to unfair behavior differ, with adolescents more likely to confront peers than teachers. Demographic factors, school climate, discrimination, belonging, and critical consciousness contribute to variations in judgments and responses. The study highlights the importance of addressing unfair treatment in STEM settings to foster inclusivity and support student persistence in STEM.
... Given that mathematics can be a crucial factor in determining whether students choose to study and work in STEM fields (Watt et al., 2017), alongside the observation that motivation and teaching factors are essential in student achievement (Serin, 2018;Wang et al., 2019), there is little data from CoE in Ghana to corroborate this claim. In addition, it is still being determined how motivation and instructional factors in mathematics may affect students' performance in electrical engineering and electronics. ...
Mathematics determines whether students’ study and work in STEM disciplines such as electrical and electronics. However, there is insufficient data to support this claim. It is also premature to assert that the effect of motivation and instruction factors in mathematics on students’ achievement in electricals and electronics is equivocal. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of mathematics achievement, learning motivation, and instructional factors on pre-service teachers’ electrical and electronics achievement. Self-administered questionnaires and achievement tests were used to collect data through a cross-sectional design. Although the results showed that instructional factors did not significantly mediate the relationship between mathematics achievement and electrical and electronics achievement, mathematics achievement and instructional factors substantially positively affected electrical and electronic achievement. Furthermore, the results indicated that pre-service teachers who excel in mathematics would likely excel in electrical and electronics because they benefit from instructional practices that activate cognition through direct instruction, facilitation of discourse, challenging tasks, and cognitive autonomy. Consequently, it is recommended that mathematics teacher educators create stimulating and engaging learning environments for their pre-service technical teachers. This will likely improve their performance in electrical and electronics.
... Given that many parents are likely to perceive math as useful during this period, adolescents may also perceive high utility value. Additionally, math is often a gateway to many educational and occupational choices (Hulleman & Harackiewicz, 2021;Watt et al., 2017). Adolescents may have found math to be useful as they make close connections between their learning material and its personal relevance. ...
The changes in adolescents’ math motivational beliefs (i.e., expectancies for success, interest, and utility value) across Grades 9–11 and the associations between these changes and adolescents’ experiences with socializers (i.e., perceived teacher unfairness and parent–adolescent discussions) were examined within each of the four largest racial/ethnic groups in the United States using the High School Longitudinal Study, a nationally representative data set (n = 19,010; 50% female; 9% Asian; 11% Black; 18% Latine; 62% White; Mage = 14.53 in Grade 9). Cross-tabulation analyses suggested that similar developmental trends emerged within each racial/ethnic group (which were tested separately). Many adolescents maintained their high or low expectancies, interest, and utility values across Grades 9–11. Some patterns varied by belief; for example, several adolescents switched from high to low interest by Grade 11, whereas several adolescents switched from low to high utility value. Parent–adolescent discussions predicted positive changes among Asian and Latine adolescents, whereas perceived teacher unfairness predicted negative changes among Black adolescents. The findings from the present study highlight the diverse developmental trends in adolescents’ motivational beliefs and the potential role of socializers as sources of strength or challenge in their motivational belief development.
... For example, students with higher mathematical self-concept were more likely to choose STEM fields, revealing a gender gap where the importance of mathematical self-concept diminished over time for women but not for men in predicting STEM career aspirations (Sax et al., 2015). The findings from Watt et al. (2017) study further support this result, indicating that the selfconcepts in mathematics of female students in Australasia positively influenced their STEM career preferences. However, this effect was not observed for male students in Australia and for a sample from the U.S. consisting of both female and male students. ...
... In line with the results of previous studies (Kang & Keinonen, 2018;Kang et al., 2021;Sax et al., 2015;Watt et al., 2017) that focused on students' self-concepts in either science or mathematics separately, this study found the combined predictive effect of mathematical and science self-concepts in students' career aspirations. This study also revealed noteworthy findings regarding the relationship between students' self-concept and their career outcome expectations. ...
... Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is integrated into school curricula to equip students with the skills necessary to tackle problems aimed at enhancing human welfare (Puspita L., et al., 2020: 82-89). STEM education emphasizes the importance of crafting methodologies (techniques) through analytical processes and mathematical data computation (mathematics) to devise problem-solving strategies ( In addition to fostering critical thinking, STEM methodologies are also effective in boosting students' motivational levels ( [23] suggests that students show a high level of motivation in science subjects when engaged in STEM-based learning, highlighting the potential of the STEM approach in increasing student motivation for learning (Farwati R., et al., 2021: 11-32). Armaludin et al. [24] argue that while motivation can be externally stimulated, it inherently originates from within, observable in various scenarios. ...
This study examined the impact of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education on 8th-grade students' motivation towards learning mathematics at a Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Almaty. The research aimed to assess how STEM education influences motivational factors such as intrinsic value, self-regulation, self-efficacy, utility value, attainment value, and test anxiety. An experimental design was employedwith 52 participants divided into two groups: a control group using traditional teaching methods and an experimental group engaging in STEM approaches.The Mathematics Motivation Questionnaire (MMQ), adapted from the Science Motivation Questionnaire (SMQ), was utilized for data collection before and after the intervention. Results from paired samples T-tests and descriptive statistics showed significant enhancements in the motivational levels of students in the experimental group, indicating that STEM education effectively boosts motivation towards mathematics learning. This research underscores the significance of incorporating STEM educational practices into mathematics curricula to create a more engaging and motivating learning atmosphere. These findings are crucial for educators, curriculum designers, and policymakers focused on improving mathematics education and fostering a greater interest in STEM fields among middle school students, contributing to the existing literature on educational motivation.
... Finally, computing is a special case that has traditionally attracted attention in academic career studies (e.g., Branch & Alegria, 2016;Fox & Kline, 2016;Fox & Xiao, 2013;Fox et al., 2017) along with mathematics (Mihaljević & Santamaría, 2020;Mihaljević-Brandt et al., 2016;Watt et al., 2017). Participation in computing is especially challenging: In 38 OECD countries in 2021, 18.20% of women published in COMP, with the percentage only slightly higher for the youngest generation of publishing scientists (20.65%, publishing experience of no more than 5 years) and with 113 years needed for gender parity (50/50) and 78 years needed for gender balance (40/60), based on current participation trends (Kwiek & Szymula, 2023). ...
In this paper, we explore how members of the scientific community leave academic science and how attrition (defined as ceasing to publish) differs across genders, academic disciplines, and over time. Our approach is cohort-based and longitudinal: We track individual male and female scientists over time and quantify the phenomenon traditionally referred to as “leaving science.” Using publication metadata from Scopus—a global bibliometric database of publications and citations—we follow the details of the publishing careers of scientists from 38 OECD countries who started publishing in 2000 (N = 142,776) and 2010 (N = 232,843). Our study is restricted to 16 STEMM disciplines (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine), and we track the individual scholarly output of the two cohorts until 2022. We use survival analysis to compare attrition of men and women scientists. With more women in science and more women within cohorts, attrition is becoming ever less gendered. In addition to the combined aggregated changes at the level of all STEMM disciplines, widely nuanced changes were found to occur at the discipline level and over time. Attrition in science means different things for men versus women depending on the discipline; moreover, it means different things for scientists from different cohorts entering the scientific workforce. Finally, global bibliometric datasets were tested in the current study, opening new opportunities to explore gender and disciplinary differences in attrition.
