"You Can't Be What You Can't See": Factors Impacting STEM Students' Identification With Peer Models

• In Event: The Interplay of Culture, Identity, and Motivation for Black and Latina/o Students in STEM Fields

Abstract

Gaps between ethnic/racial majority and minority students in the completion of STEM degrees limits the diversity of the STEM workforce. Such gaps are partially attributable to the lack of demographically similar successful models available to underrepresented students. We examined the extent to which 193 Black and Latinx undergraduate STEM students identified with role models used in a mitigating-cost intervention. Linear regression was used to examine whether race/ethnicity, intervention condition, gender, and overcoming challenges self-efficacy influenced students’ identification with the role models. Results indicated that race, condition, and overcoming challenges self-efficacy were significant predictors of students’ identification with the model. Findings have implications for the design and development of interventions that use role models to promote undergraduate STEM motivation.

Authors

• Kendra Hall, Old Dominion University

• Tony Perez, Old Dominion University