Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- 9 Do teenagers want to become scientists?
- 10 Predicting career aspirations and university majors from academic ability and self-concept
- 11 Does priority matter?
- 12 Gender differences in personal aptitudes and motivational beliefs for achievement in and commitment to math and science fields
- 13 What happens to high-achieving females after high school?
- 14 Young people, gender, and science
- 15 Motivational affordances in school versus work contexts advantage different individuals
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
13 - What happens to high-achieving females after high school?
Gender and persistence on the postsecondary STEM pipeline
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- 9 Do teenagers want to become scientists?
- 10 Predicting career aspirations and university majors from academic ability and self-concept
- 11 Does priority matter?
- 12 Gender differences in personal aptitudes and motivational beliefs for achievement in and commitment to math and science fields
- 13 What happens to high-achieving females after high school?
- 14 Young people, gender, and science
- 15 Motivational affordances in school versus work contexts advantage different individuals
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
Although progress has been made in reducing gender inequality in postsecondary education, in the US and in other countries, gender gaps remain in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields judged so critical to economic competitiveness. Using the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, we examine the influence of young women and men’s secondary school experiences of on their subsequent courses of study in college. In particular, we use this large-scale study to examine the effect of the psychological indicators (such as deep interest or absorption in the subject matter) suggested to be important predictors of persistence in small-scale studies of women specializing in STEM fields at the postsecondary level. Focusing the analysis on high-achieving youth who have completed the secondary school STEM pipeline course sequences, we find that academic preparation in secondary school is the critically important consideration in keeping US boys on the STEM pipeline midway through their undergraduate postsecondary educational experience. African American boys who have completed these sequences are the most likely to declare STEM majors and Latino males are least likely, net of nativity status. For high-achieving girls on the whole, however, course taking is insufficient to keep them on the STEM pipeline. Their orientation toward mathematics and external supports from engaged family, school staff, and friends are powerful predictors of their persistence in STEM at the postsecondary level.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in Aspirations and AttainmentA Life Course Perspective, pp. 285 - 320Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
References
- 11
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