The Continued Development of Empirical Models to Understand the Selection of and Persistence in STEMM Careers

该项目继续执行一项定期收集和分析美国青年纵向研究参与者数据的方案，以便继续监测这批年轻人的职业发展。STEP计划的早期资助促进了95%的原始样本的定位和近70%的原始参与者的重新联系。近年来的两轮数据收集在职业选择和工作满意度方面取得了重要成果。这些数据正在继续推进对科学，技术，工程，数学和医学（STEMM）职业和其他非STEMM相关职业的职业选择，职业发展和职业满意度的理解。第一个周期的结果-现在正在由参考期刊审查-显示，这两个队列中约有7%现在从事STEM职业，另外8%从事STEM支持职业。其他分析表明，高中数学成绩和高中微积分课程的入学率是随后进入STEMM职业生涯的最强预测因素，男性仍然比女性更有可能进入STEMM职业生涯，保持研究中的其他主要变量不变。该项目正在为地方自治年收集和分析另外三个周期的数据，在地方自治年两个年龄组中年龄较大的年龄组到40岁之后。这些周期的重点是这些30多岁的成年人在STEM工作中所经历的满意度和成功水平。这很有趣，因为已发表的研究表明，相当多的年轻人-特别是女性-在短短几年后就离开了STEM职业。该项目预计将提供深入了解与STEMM职业持续性相关的因素以及阻碍STEMM职业的因素。没有一个单一的研究生学习阶段可以为未来的STEM工作者做好40年的科学准备。LSAY队列再延长三个周期将允许检查STEM专业人员和STEM支持工作者的继续教育活动，以及继续教育和在职学习在多大程度上支持STEM相关职业的持续性。

This project is continuing a program of periodic data collection and analysis from participants in the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) in order to continue monitoring the career development of this cohort of young adults. Earlier funding from the STEP Program facilitated the location of 95% of the original sample and re-contact of nearly 70% of the original participants. Two cycles of data collection in recent years have yielded important results about career choice and job satisfaction. These data are continuing to advance understanding of career choice, career advancement, and career satisfaction in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) careers and other non-STEMM related careers. The results from the first cycle - now under review by refereed journals - show that approximately 7% of these two cohorts are now employed in a STEMM career and that an additional 8% are working in a STEMM-support occupation. Additional analysis indicates that high school mathematics achievement and enrollment in a high school calculus course are the strongest predictors of subsequent entrance into a STEMM career, and that males are still more likely to enter a STEMM career than females, holding constant the other major variables in the study. This project is collecting and analyzing in three additional cycles of data collection for the LSAY, following the older of the two age cohorts in LSAY to age 40. The focus of these cycles is on the levels of satisfaction and success in STEMM work experienced by these adults in their 30s. This is of interest because published studies show that a significant number of young adults - especially women - leave STEMM careers after only a few years. This project is expected to provide insights into the factors that are associated with persistence in STEMM careers and the factors that discourage STEMM careers. No single period of graduate study will fully prepare future STEMM workers for 40 years of science. The extension of the LSAY cohorts for another three cycles will allow an examination of the continuing education activities of STEMM professionals and of STEMM-support workers and the extent to which continuing education and on-the-job learning supports persistance in STEMM-related careers.