"Am I Trying Hard or Harder Than Others?" Gender Differences in the Reciprocal Relations Between Effort, Science Self-Concept, Achievement, and STEM Pursuit in Chemistry

• In Event: Examining Motivation Among Historically Minoritized Groups in STEM

Abstract

High effort is key to success in STEM. Yet, social comparisons of effort lead students to view high effort as an indication of low ability. Further, gender stereotypes associate women’s high effort with low ability in STEM. In this study, we adopted two perceptions of effort: criterion effort and comparative effort. Accordingly, we investigated (a) the reciprocal relations between two perceptions of effort, science self-concept, achievement, and STEM pursuit, (b) gender differences in these relations in undergraduate chemistry. We found several noteworthy findings. First, criterion effort was beneficial for women, while comparative effort was detrimental for all student in chemistry. Two, two perceptions of effort were reciprocally related to chemistry performance for both genders. Scholarly contributions and implications are discussed.

Authors

• Hyewon Lee, University of California - Irvine
  Presenting Author

• Shirley L. Yu, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Minjung Kim, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tzu-Jung Lin, The Ohio State University
  Non-Presenting Author