Hall of Mirrors
Seek and Ye Shall Find: A Different Analysis on High-School Students and STEM (304944)
*Julieth Paola Diaz, Florida State UniversityKeywords: in-depth analyses,gender,STEM careers,math
Studying 23,450 ninth-graders (U.S. High School Longitudinal Study 2009-2013), we address ethnic and gender effects on relationships among behavioral engagement, math self-efficacy, math achievement and career choices. Most prior research uses two—at most three—way ANOVA, finding few sex differences in paths to a STEM career choice. We used loglinear and multinomial regression models, finding up to fifth order interactions and more complexity involving gender. Students with low engagement and low math self-efficacy more often had very low math GPAs; those with moderate engagement and moderate self-efficacy less often held low GPAs. Students more often chose STEM careers when both engagement and self-efficacy were moderate. When behavioral engagement or math self-efficacy was low, they more often chose other white-collar or especially blue-collar careers. Significant variations in variable relationships occurred by ethnicity and gender. Gender, self-efficacy, and the interaction of engagement and self-efficacy all predicted student certainty about future career choices but complex variable relationships more often held for girls, indicating one must analyze in considerable depth.