Gender, Competitiveness, and Intentions to Pursue STEM fields.

Abstract

Building on the insights of gender theorists as well as a small body of emerging quantitative research, the authors examine whether and how students' self-perceptions of competitiveness are related to gendered patterns of future STEM expectations among a sample of U.S. high school students. Results of regression analyses reveal that female students' relatively lower self-perceptions of competitiveness (compared to male students) significantly contribute to their lower expectation of majoring in two historically male-dominated fields, physical science and engineering. Additional results revealed an interaction between gender and competitiveness for expectations to major in computer science, such that while girls' expectations significantly increase with their perceptions of competitiveness, boys' decisions to pursue computer science are unrelated to such perceptions.