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Friendship Groups, Personal Motivation, and Gender in Relation to High School Students' STEM Career Interest
Author(s) -
Robnett Rachael D.,
Leaper Campbell
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of research on adolescence
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.342
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1532-7795
pISSN - 1050-8392
DOI - 10.1111/jora.12013
Subject(s) - friendship , psychology , ethnic group , social psychology , developmental psychology , anthropology , sociology
Friendship group characteristics, motivation, and gender were investigated in relation to adolescents' science, technology, engineering, and math ( STEM ) career interest. The sample was comprised of 468 high school students ( M = 16 years, range = 13–18) from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Participants rated their friendship group's support of STEM as well as their personal motivation in science. They separately rated the friendship group's support of E nglish and personal motivation in E nglish. Other predictors included friendship group characteristics (importance, gender composition) and background variables such as gender. Group support of STEM (but not E nglish) and science motivation (but not E nglish motivation) predicted STEM career interest. Group characteristics and participant gender moderated the effects. Findings suggest social identities and self‐concepts may shape youths' STEM career choices.