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

该项目将继续定期收集和分析美国青年纵向研究（LSAY）参与者的数据，以继续监测这群年轻人的职业发展。早期来自STEP项目的资金帮助找到了95%的原始样本，并重新联系了近70%的原始参与者。近年来的两轮数据收集已经产生了关于职业选择和工作满意度的重要结果。这些数据继续促进对科学、技术、工程、数学和医学（stem）职业和其他非stem相关职业的职业选择、职业发展和职业满意度的理解。第一个周期的结果显示，这两组中大约有7%的人现在从事STEMM职业，另外8%的人从事STEMM支持的职业。进一步的分析表明，高中数学成绩和高中微积分课程的入学率是随后进入stem职业的最强预测因子，并且在研究中的其他主要变量保持不变的情况下，男性仍然比女性更有可能进入stem职业。该项目在LSAY的另外三个数据收集周期中进行收集和分析，跟踪LSAY的两个年龄组中年龄较大的人群至40岁。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程度。这一点很有趣，因为已发表的研究表明，相当多的年轻人——尤其是女性——在从事stem工作几年后就离开了。该项目旨在深入了解与STEMM职业中持久性相关的因素以及阻碍STEMM职业发展的因素。没有一段时间的研究生学习能让未来的stem工作者为40年的科学工作做好充分的准备。将“科学、技术、工程及工程”专业人员和“科学、工程及工程”支援人员的继续教育活动再延长三个周期，可以检验继续教育和在职学习在多大程度上支持了“科学、工程及工程”相关职业的持续发展。

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.