Parent and Family Influence on First-year Engineering Major Choice

This complete research paper discusses parent and family influences on the selection of engineering as a college major. The choice of a career or profession is a developmental process [1] that is influenced by a diverse set of factors including familial influences [1-12]. Parental career path [5] and perception of other career fields [6] have been shown to influence student career choice. Children with engineers in their families are exposed to engineering as a career at an early age and acquire a greater understanding of the engineering profession through home education [15]. Occupational inheritance is often the result of early exposure to professions, and engineering runs in families much the same way that law or medicine does. An understanding of familial influences may help advocates to determine effective methods to expose more diverse sets of students and parents to engineering as a profession. The research presented in this paper contributes to the existing knowledge base, providing additional data to support assertions of previous research indicating an influence of familial occupation (in either engineering or STEM) on student engineering major choice, as well as whether this effect has any differences by gender. In this study, 158 first year engineering students from a public midwestern technical university were surveyed to determine if any family members or mentors had a career in an engineering discipline or STEM fields. This work determined that 63% of the engineering students surveyed reported at least one family member that had a career in engineering. When STEM fields are also included, this number increases to 69%. Overall, the most commonly reported family members in engineering/STEM were fathers (46%), mothers (14%), and uncles (9%). Female engineering students were more likely to have a mother as an engineer than their male counterparts. However, a greater percentage of female respondents reported a father in engineering/STEM (42%) than a mother (19%), indicating parents of either gender as possible sources of occupational inheritance. Engineering programs focused on increasing gender diversity might consider targeting recruitment to the daughters of engineers, as well as developing K-12 engineering outreach which includes mothers and daughters together. Background: Student determination of career pathway and professional aspirations has been described as a developmental process, one that spans from mid-childhood into the years of adulthood [1]. In engineering there are many factors that can impact these choices. While such factors include interest in the field of study [3, 13], math and science or problem solving [8, 9, 13] and earning potential/money [2, 3, 12]; peer and familial influences are highly reported and cited in research [1-12]. When considering familial influence on career choice, specifically in engineering, three core categories of influencers are established: parents, siblings, and other relatives [14]. Parents: Research shows that parental figures have a significant impact on the perception of their children towards diverse career pathways. Parents act as the control point for educational exposure [15] and knowledge of occupational roles [16] from a young age. They are responsible for determining what toys their child plays with, what books their child reads, and where their child goes to school. As a result, a student’s exposure and perception of different career disciplines and professional roles is highly influenced by the introductory actions of parents. Parents themselves can serve as role models for engineering if they themselves are engineers [4]. Studies have found that children are often more literate in the professions of their parents and as a result occupational inheritance may occur. This phenomenon has been found to occur in families in which a parent, sibling, or other relative(s) are engineers as well as in families with medical professionals and lawyers. [15] Parents also provide support for their children when selecting majors [4]. In fact, when 348 English high school aged students were asked who was most influential in helping them select their career path, they ranked parents as the biggest influencers, followed by teachers, friends, and then siblings [1]. It should also be noted that both the male and female students ranked their same-sex parents and siblings as affecting their career choice more than their opposing sex parents and siblings (girls were more influenced by mothers and sisters than fathers and brothers). The importance of parental influence has also been shown to vary with race as well as gender. When 94 high school students attending a summer technology academy were asked about who and what they felt influences their career considerations in STEM fields, the number one factor affecting career choice was interest in the field of study, regardless of whether students were Black, White, female or male [3]. Black females and White students of both genders indicated their second considering factor in career choice was parental influence. For Black male students, earning potential was the second most important factor in their decision making, while parental influence was the third. For Black females and White males, earning potential was the third factor affecting their career choice. While for White females, the influence of teachers was the third factor affecting their career choice [3]. Additionally, within Black families, mothers and fathers may not impact college major choice equally. In other research, Black engineering students reported that mothers (in both single and two-parent homes) had a greater impact on the development of their academic identities than fathers [17]. The influence of parents on career choice or college major selection may dwindle in its importance after students leave home. An examination of survey data from 6,772 first year college students indicates a stronger influence to study engineering came from siblings than parents [4]. A survey of 1,000 second-semester first year engineering students indicated the students found other students more helpful than parents in selecting an engineering major [7]. However, this may also be due to lack of parental knowledge in the differences between engineering majors. Differentiation between majors is something that only a parent who is an engineer themselves might be able to help a student navigate. In fact, the influence on engineering major choice has been documented to come from non-family members for engineering students who lack a family member with experience in that major [14]. Thus, other individuals besides family members may influence a student’s choice of engineering major and the influence of others may matter more over time. As students who leave home develop new relationships, they may become more influenced by other adults outside their families. In one study of 1,203 juniors and seniors in engineering across 21 institutions, mentor influence was ranked higher than parental influence when students were surveyed about their motivations to study engineering [12]. The dwindling influence of parents on engineering career choice may not be as pronounced in female students as it is in males. The effect of parental influence dwindling with entrance into college may also vary with gender. In an examination of 806 firstand second-year college students in biology, engineering and business, parents and friends were found to play a significant role in female students’ selection of an engineering major, but not male students [13]. The importance of parental influence on student pathways to engineering also varies between those attending twoand four-year colleges. In focus groups conducted on engineering majors at two and four-year ABET-accredited programs in South Carolina, family members were found to affect student’s persistence in education, choice of major, and choice of institution [14]. When family influences on each group were examined, the dominant family influence theme for students at four-year institutions was that of parental and other relative guidance; whereas for students at two-year institutions, the dominant theme pertained to extensive family responsibilities. Interestingly, guidance from siblings only arose as a dominant theme among two-year engineering students, and not four-year. Thus, the influence of parents on engineering career choice may be stronger for students who start their careers at four-year institutions. As two-year schools are more affordable, this difference may be due to economic class. Siblings Educational and Social Cognitive research also suggests that siblings can play an imperative role in influencing the selection of college major of study, and overall educational attainment [6, 18]. Siblings typically spend an abundance of time in the presence of one another and as a result develop a co-partnership. As a result of this partnership, the opinions of our siblings’ matter to us. Sibling influence is especially pronounced for students who have an older sibling who has attended or graduated from college. In this case, older siblings who have attended college have the ability to provide detailed guidance from their personal experience [19].When it comes to engineering-related career choices of students, according to research conducted by Godwin, Potvin, and Hazari, the influence of sibling engineers may be even stronger than that of parents who are engineers [6]. This is especially true for students who did not report a strong positive relationship with a parent.