Abstract
ABSTRACT Vocational anticipatory socialization (VAS) is a multi-year, multi-step process that begins in childhood and informs young adults about possibilities for their future work-life experience. This manuscript describes two field experiments that examine media as a VAS socialization source through an investigation of the impact of a televised STEM program geared to elementary school children between the ages of 8 and 14. Additionally, the gender of the television host was manipulated to examine the effect of host gender on increasing interest in STEM. A pretest/posttest design measured attitudes and interest changes in STEM and STEM careers following media viewing. The findings demonstrate that media acts as a socialization agent and can increase a child’s interest in STEM. Parental influence and gender differences are also discussed.
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