Future scientists: How women's and minorities' math self-efficacy and science perception affect their STEM major selection

Abstract

Current Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) research has focused mainly on traditional cognitive outcomes, such as high school math and science test scores or Scholastic Aptitude Test results. Few studies have considered a social cognitive approach embedded within a career choice analysis. This research focused on students' perception of high school science levels of preparation and their math self-efficacy as means to measure the impact of social cognitive abilities on career choices. The study used a nationally representative sample taken from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002/06 (ELS: 2002). The aim of this study was tri-fold: (a) to investigate the influence of students' perception about their high school science preparation on their postsecondary majoring, (b) how students' math self-efficacy impacted their STEM majoring odds, and (c) how the influence of such perceptions and self-efficacies differ by students' race and gender. With a sample size of (n=4449) the multilevel Logistic Regression analysis revealed interesting findings. First, math self-efficacy and high school science preparation perceptions found to be significantly impacting all participants' odds of majoring in STEM. Although all female participants' chances of majoring in STEM were affected by math self-efficacy and perceptions about high school science preparation, subgroup analysis revealed an interesting finding. Female minority students' college choice decisions (majoring in STEM or not) seem to be impacted only by their math self-efficacy. These findings indicate that increasing minorities' and female minorities' math self-efficacy through K-12 interventions would increase their chances of majoring in STEM disciplines. Similarly, enhancing minority students' science preparation during high school years may result in such a desirable outcome.