Boys Are Affected by Parents More Than Girls Are: Parental Utility Value Socialization in Science

• In Event: 51.026 - Motivation, Engagement, and Achievement in STEM Learning

Abstract

We investigated gender differences in parental value socialization and its impact on elementary school students’ motivation, achievement, and career aspirations in science domain. We also examined direct and indirect modes of parental value socialization by asking parents’ science utility value for children and for themselves. 260 dyads of parents and their 5th-6th grade children participated in the study. The results showed that boys pursued STEM-related careers more than girls without motivational and academic superiority. Parents’ utility value beliefs were rarely influential for daughters’ science motivation and achievement, but remarkably significant for those of sons. Parents’ utility value for sons predicted both sons’ STEM career pursuits and science achievement. In contrast, parents’ science utility value for themselves predicted sons’ science achievement.

Authors

• Minhye Lee, Korea University

• Dajung Diane Shin, Korea University

• Mimi Bong, Korea University