The Gendering Effects of National and Family Affluence on Student STEM Attitudes and Aspirations

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Abstract

This paper examines processes behind the “paradox of affluence”, or the phenomenon that male advantages in STEM attitudes and aspirations tend to be larger among students in more affluent countries and families. Three processes are proposed to understand this paradox. The first process is gendering of intrinsic interest, which considers the gendering effect of family and national affluences on student enjoyment in learning science. The second process is gendering of instrumental motivation, which considers the calculation of material security and economic returns in learning science and developing STEM career aspirations. The third process is gendering of self-efficacy, which considers gender differences in student self-assessment and self-confidence in their science capacity. These three processes together contribute to the persistent gender differences in STEM fields under affluent settings at the macro- and micro- level. Further, results show that the gendering effect of family affluence can be reinforced by national affluence. This study thus highlights the interaction of national and family contexts in shaping gender differences in STEM attitudes and aspirations.

Author

• Ran Liu, University of Wisconsin-Madison