Make or break STEM course experiences: Profiles of situated expectancy, value, cost, and major intentions

Abstract

Persistent attrition and underrepresentation issues in STEM fields have complex causes that involve cultural, contextual, and individual motivational factors. To better understand how students make decisions about persisting in STEM, this study used a person-oriented approach to examine co-occurring patterns of academic self-efficacy, task values, perceived costs, and changes in major intentions during introductory STEM courses. Instead of treating motivational beliefs and behavioral intentions as separate or sequential—as is common in variable-oriented approaches—we modeled how these constructs cluster together during key decision-making periods. This approach allowed us to explore how students experience these beliefs in real time and how common or rare different motivational-intentional configurations are. We identified four distinct motivational profiles of expectancy, value, cost, and major intention changes and examined how students’ sense of belonging with professors, classmates, and the university predicted profile membership. Belonging with professors and university distinguished the beneficial profile from maladaptive profiles. The Confident and Interested, Stable Intentions profile was most adaptive for motivation and long-term persistence. In contrast, Moderate Mixed Motivation, Invited In, Value Focused Mixed Motivation, Weeded Out, and Cost Focused Mixed Motivation, Weeded Out profiles showed an overrepresentation of women and students from racially minoritized groups, with lower probabilities of pursuing majors related to their course. These findings underscore the value of capturing how motivational beliefs and decisions co-occur, emphasizing the need to promote belonging and provide tailored support to enhance STEM persistence.