THE ROLE OF OUTCOME EXPECTATIONS AND SUBJECTIVE TASK VALUE IN SELECTING A STEM MAJOR AMONG WOMEN AND MEN: IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE AND DEFINING STEM

Abstract

For decades, attaining gender equity and equality in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, along with increasing the number of STEM professionals in the U.S., have been interconnected goals that have received significant attention from scholars, researchers, and various national organizations. Projections still indicate an overall shortage of STEM professionals, including the underrepresentation of women in many STEM fields. Given such trends, scholars have recognized the need to study a variety of factors associated with students' entry into and persistence in STEM fields. In this study, we analyzed and compared the STEM major selection processes of 4,120 women and men who participated in the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 and who, as college students, selected a STEM major. To do this, we constructed and analyzed structural equation models that describe the relationships between the expectancy of success and subjective task value constructs described by expectancy-value theory and students’ selecting a STEM major in one of three categories (core STEM subjects, medical STEM subjects, and peripheral STEM subjects). In so doing, we were able to discern (a) differences in STEM major selection processes among women and among men, depending on how STEM is categorized, and (b) differences between women and men within each of the three STEM categorizations. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.