Do I Belong? Gender, Perceived Competence, and the Development of Field Belonging for Physics Undergraduates

• In Event: Facilitating Success and Persistence in STEM/STEAM

Abstract

Women in physics and engineering continue to remain underrepresented in higher education. To illuminate underlying processes, we used data from undergraduate Physics students (N= 338) enrolled in an introductory physics course to investigate the development of field belonging and its association with gender and perceived competence. Latent change models showed a decrease in students’ perceived field belonging across one academic term. While males and females did not differ in their initial level, females reported a stronger decline in their perceived field belonging. In addition, while perceived competence was associated with a higher initial level of perceived field belonging for both genders, higher levels of perceived competence buffered the decline in field belonging for females, but not for males.

Authors

• Anna-Lena Dicke, University of California, Irvine

• Nayssan Safavian, University of California - Irvine

• Yannan Gao, University of California - Irvine

• Jacquelynne S. Eccles, University of California - Irvine