Gender and family influences on Spanish students’ aspirations and values in stem fields

Drawing on expectancy-value theory, this study examines gender and family influences on students’ career aspirations and attached values. 796 secondary Spanish students (M age = 16 years old, S.D. = 0.81) participated. 53% were boys. The results show that boys and students with mothers who have comp...

ver descrição completa

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Sainz, Milagros, Müller, Jörg
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Recursos:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/149449
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10609/149449
http://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2017.1405464
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:career choice in STEM
gender
family influences
values
Descrição
Resumo:Drawing on expectancy-value theory, this study examines gender and family influences on students’ career aspirations and attached values. 796 secondary Spanish students (M age = 16 years old, S.D. = 0.81) participated. 53% were boys. The results show that boys and students with mothers who have completed intermediate level education were more interested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) architecture and technology. Girls and students with highly educated mothers born in Spain were more likely to aspire to STEM health and experimental studies. Furthermore, boys and students planning to pursue STEM-technology studies attached higher extrinsic values to these studies. On the contrary, girls and participants with interest in experimental and health studies attached less extrinsic values to these studies. Moreover, students with highly educated mothers and interested in STEM architecture and technology reported higher extrinsic values. Understanding the interaction of gender and family factors shaping adolescents’ career aspirations in STEM fields seems to be crucial to designing significant and effective school and family grounded interventions.