LIfe Goals, Gender Roles, and STEM Career Interest (GSE grant 2012-2015)

This study investigated how life goals and gender roles interact to effect changes in STEM career interests and college majors over the course of the college years. To achieve this goal we: a) systematically examined multiple aspects of communal goals, including marriage, family, and helping; b) investigated the impact of romantic relationship goals and the gender roles that accompany them in predicting women’s STEM interest; and c) examined how Biology majors, where women are more represented, compare to other STEM majors with respect to life goals and gender roles. The project met these objectives through a longitudinal study of over 2,200 college students at a state university in the southeastern United State who were considering a major in STEM. Second and 3rd year STEM students were surveyed about their life goals, perceptions of gender roles, and career interests at three time points approximately one year apart. A subset of women in serious romantic relationships and their partners completed additional measures about their expectations for their future work, relationship, and family roles. The research documented changes in majors and career interests and their association with changes in life goals and perceptions of gender roles. Both survey and experimental methods were used to measure these constructs.