Soldiers to Citizens … to Scientists? Intersectional and Military Service Effects on the STEM Pipeline

• In Event: 523 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. STEM Education

Abstract

STEM fields historically have attracted a variety of disadvantaged groups, for whom post-secondary degrees otherwise might be unattainable. Similarly, young adults from ethnic minorities and lower socio-economic backgrounds have been more likely to enlist in the AVF military. Even so, we know little about the connection between military service, intersectional status categories and educational/occupational specialization, nor about the stratification patterns. This begs the question: How have intersections of race and gender affected STEM degree and occupational trajectories for civilian adults vs. military veterans? In addition, the federal agencies conceptualize and operationalize STEM fields in distinct ways How do these competing definitions of STEM fields affect the form and magnitude of intersectional patterns?

Grounding our hypotheses in status competition and institutionalist theories, we employ data from the American Community Survey/ACS (2010-12 file) and conduct logistic regression analyses. Preliminary findings suggest that, regardless of which of the four STEM definitions we employ, veterans universally have higher odds, whereas women have lower odds of STEM outcomes. Yet, the positive effect of being a veteran helps to compensate for women’s lower odds. We find that non-White veterans are almost universally less likely to hold STEM outcomes. Finally, the size of the gender and intersectional gaps vary by the STEM definition used. Using more inclusive definitions of STEM suggests that women veterans actually have higher odds of earning a STEM degree than either veteran or civilian men.

Authors

• Regina E. Werum, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Christina R. Steidl, University of Alabama in Huntsville

• Jacob Paul Absalon, University of Nebraska-Lincoln