Professional Role Confidence and Gendered Persistence in Engineering

被引:302
作者
Cech, Erin [1 ]
Rubineau, Brian [2 ]
Silbey, Susan [3 ]
Seron, Caroll [4 ,5 ,6 ]
机构
[1] Stanford Univ, Michelle R Clayman Inst Gender Res, Stanford, CA 94305 USA
[2] Cornell Univ, Sch Ind & Labor Relat, Ithaca, NY 14853 USA
[3] MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
[4] Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Criminol Law & Soc, Irvine, CA 92717 USA
[5] Univ Calif Irvine, Dept Sociol, Irvine, CA 92717 USA
[6] Univ Calif Irvine, Sch Law, Irvine, CA 92717 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
professional role confidence; expertise confidence; career-fit confidence; gendered persistence in science and engineering; SEX SEGREGATION; WOMEN; SCIENCE; ACHIEVEMENT; IDENTITY; STUDENTS; CHOICES; THREAT; SELVES; VALUES;
D O I
10.1177/0003122411420815
中图分类号
C91 [社会学];
学科分类号
030301 ; 1204 ;
摘要
Social psychological research on gendered persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions is dominated by two explanations: women leave because they perceive their family plans to be at odds with demands of STEM careers, and women leave due to low self-assessment of their skills in STEM's intellectual tasks, net of their performance. This study uses original panel data to examine behavioral and intentional persistence among students who enter an engineering major in college. Surprisingly, family plans do not contribute to women's attrition during college but are negatively associated with men's intentions to pursue an engineering career. Additionally, math self-assessment does not predict behavioral or intentional persistence once students enroll in a STEM major. This study introduces professional role confidence-individuals' confidence in their ability to successfully fulfill the roles, competencies, and identity features of a profession-and argues that women's lack of this confidence, compared to men, reduces their likelihood of remaining in engineering majors and careers. We find that professional role confidence predicts behavioral and intentional persistence, and that women's relative lack of this confidence contributes to their attrition.
引用
收藏
页码:641 / 666
页数:26
相关论文
共 83 条
[1]  
[Anonymous], 2003, WOMEN SCI
[2]  
[Anonymous], 1997, TALKING LEAVING
[3]  
Becker G.S., 1964, Human capital theory
[4]  
Becker H.S., 1961, BOYS WHITE STUDENT C
[5]   THE RELATIONSHIP OF MATHEMATICS SELF-EFFICACY EXPECTATIONS TO THE SELECTION OF SCIENCE-BASED COLLEGE MAJORS [J].
BETZ, NE ;
HACKETT, G .
JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR, 1983, 23 (03) :329-345
[6]  
Boulis AK., 2008, CHANGING FACE MED WO
[7]  
Burge Stephanie Woodham, 2006, THESIS FLORIDA STATE
[8]   Identities and social structure: The 2003 Cooley-Mead Award address [J].
Burke, PJ .
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY, 2004, 67 (01) :5-15
[9]   Emotional capital and professional socialization: The case of mortuary science students (and me) [J].
Cahill, SE .
SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY QUARTERLY, 1999, 62 (02) :101-116
[10]   A theory of self-esteem [J].
Cast, AD ;
Burke, PJ .
SOCIAL FORCES, 2002, 80 (03) :1041-1068