An Examination of Psychosocial Factors That Influence African American College Women's Major Selection in STEM Versus Non-STEM Areas

• In Event: Roundtable Session 41
  In Roundtable Session: (Psycho)Social Factors and Identity in Undergraduate Success

Abstract

Research suggests that the underrepresentation of women and students of color in STEM careers is the product of contextual and psychological factors that shape academic and career choices long before students arrive on a college campus (Perry et al., 2012). The purpose of this paper is to examine how psychosocial factors influence African American college women’s career decision-making process. More specifically, the paper examines differences between STEM and Non-STEM African American college women.

Authors

• Lashawnda A. Lindsay-Dennis

• Lawanda Cummings, Paine College

• Tantiana Burns, Paine College