Parents' Beliefs About Females and Males' Science Ability Predicts Changes in Students' Self-Identification With Science

• In Event: The Ecology and Development of STEM Learning: Factors Influencing STEM Learning Across the Lifespan

Abstract

This research examined whether changes in students’ self-identification with science across the high school and post-secondary years are in part attributed to parents’ differential beliefs about female and male’s ability in science. Data from the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS:09) were used, which followed 23,503 students from 9th grade into the postsecondary years. At each timepoint of the study, female (vs. male) students were less likely to view themselves as a “science person”. Parents’ gendered beliefs about science ability were associated with lower levels of science self-identification among female students only. Latent growth curve analysis revealed positive, yet uneven, trends in female and male students’ self-identification with science, with such trends partially explained by parents’ ability beliefs.

Authors

• Cecilia Cheung, University of California - Riverside

• Niwako Sugimura, University of California - Riverside