Motivated to Succeed via the Fear of Failure Among High-Achieving Urban African American Students

• In Event: Creating an Environment for High-Achieving African American Students

Abstract

Feelings of self-doubt and self-defeating attitudes are some of the more widely cited reasons for the low number of African American students in rigorous fields such as science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). However, what is less considered is what factors contribute to African American students’ persistence and resilience in STEM? The purpose of this proposal is to gain an in-depth understanding of how and why some African American students, particularly, those who were raised in predominately Black urban neighborhoods had experiences that placed them at heightened awareness that struggle without success and downtroddeness were commonplace. To achieve this goal, we qualitatively analyzed the experiences of 12 high-achieving African American STEM college students.

Authors

• Ebony Omotola McGee, Vanderbilt Peabody College

• Rich Milner, University of Pittsburgh