GSE/RES: The Influence of Educational Climate on College Women's Attrition from STEM Fields: A Three-year Longitudinal Study

GSE/RES：教育氛围对 STEM 领域女大学生流失的影响：一项为期三年的纵向研究

• 批准号: 0936780
• 负责人: Kathi Miner
• 金额: $ 50万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-01-01 至 2013-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0936780&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: GSE; RES; Influence; Educational; Climate

Intellectual Merit: This project investigates how educational climates affect college women?s withdrawal from STEM fields. Specifically, the research examines: 1) the extent to which negative educational climates for college women (e.g., those that are perceived as uncivil, sexist, racist; have few female and faculty of color role models, and are male-dominated) lead them to depart from STEM fields; 2) whether women's perceptions of STEM careers (e.g., the presence of a glass ceiling, that non-STEM fields are more welcoming for women), aspirations in STEM fields, declines in well-being (e.g., mental health, physical health, and school satisfaction), and declines in performance (e.g., GPA) mediate the relationship between negative climates and withdrawal; and 3) whether demographics (e.g., race, socioeconomic status, parents' education level, and academic ability), support resources (e.g., family, peer, and environmental support), and personal resources (e.g., self-efficacy, nontraditional gender attitudes, and instrumental personality traits) moderate these relationships. The study is following college women in STEM fields for three years and asking them to complete online surveys. Data is being collected from women at two different universities to assess whether the theorized processes act similarly in disparate academic contexts. The primary focus is on women's climate experiences, but a small sample of college men who are STEM majors are also included to allow for cross-gender comparison. Tinto's theoretical work on student persistence and departure serves as a foundation for the project. Hierarchical linear modeling is used to test the hypotheses. The proposed study addresses six critically important but neglected gaps in the literature on the retention of women in STEM fields. First, although some research has examined climate issues for college women in STEM, few have examined how climate affects women in a range of STEM fields in the same study to determine how they are similar or different. Even less attention has been given to how both objective and subjective aspects of educational environments simultaneously affect STEM women's departure decisions; the proposed project assesses both of these climate dimensions. Second, the proposed project includes participants from two very different universities--a predominately white research university and a minority-serving undergraduate university--which will allow a comparative evaluation of how climate affects women in dissimilar educational environments. Third, over half of the participants in the study are women of color; there is currently a paucity of research examining factors that affect women of color's retention in STEM fields. The sample also includes variability in social class and first-generation college student status, allowing an investigation of how climate affects STEM women from working-class backgrounds. Fourth, this project examines STEM women's career perceptions, career aspirations, well-being, and academic performance as key factors that may mediate the climate-withdrawal link. This component of the proposed research increases our understanding of why women exit STEM fields when they experience negative educational climates. Fifth, the proposed research investigates factors that moderate, or buffer, women from the negative effects of negative educational climates, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will remain in STEM. Finally, the longitudinal design allows for the identification of particular points in women's college trajectory that are most sensitive to departure.Broader Impacts: Findings from the proposed project have the potential to transform the undergraduate educational experience for women in STEM fields and address the critical social need of educating young women to compete in the global economy. As such, educators, students, parents, researchers, policy makers, and the general public benefit from the study's findings. Outreach focuses on: 1) the construction of a website reporting all major findings and providing links to published papers and presentations on study findings, 2) meetings with university administrators, faculty, and student groups to report findings, discuss intervention strategies, and provide recommendations, and 3) dissemination to the academic research community via presentations at professional meetings and peer-reviewed publications. Study results also inform educational intervention design to promote women's retention in STEM and allow employers and policy makers to develop effective strategies to retain female workers in STEM fields. The project also provides research training opportunities for female and racial minority undergraduate and graduate students. Finally, findings contribute to societal debates regarding the extent of sexism, racism, and general mistreatment targeted at women in university environments, particularly those that are science-based and male-dominated.

智力优势：这个项目调查了教育环境如何影响女大学生？退出STEM领域。具体来说，研究考察了：1）大学女生的负面教育氛围（例如，那些被认为是不文明的，性别歧视的，种族主义的;很少有女性和有色人种的榜样，并且是男性主导的）导致他们离开STEM领域; 2）女性对STEM职业的看法（例如，玻璃天花板的存在，非STEM领域更受女性欢迎），STEM领域的愿望，幸福感的下降（例如，心理健康、身体健康和学校满意度），以及表现下降（例如，GPA）介导负面气候和退缩之间的关系;以及3）人口统计学（例如，种族、社会经济地位、父母的教育水平和学术能力），支持资源（例如，家庭、同伴和环境支持），以及个人资源（例如，自我效能感，非传统的性别态度和工具性人格特质）调节这些关系。这项研究跟踪了STEM领域的女大学生三年，并要求她们完成在线调查。目前正在从两所不同大学的女性那里收集数据，以评估理论化的过程在不同的学术背景下是否有类似的作用。主要关注的是女性的气候体验，但也包括一小部分STEM专业的大学男性样本，以进行跨性别比较。Tinto关于学生坚持和离开的理论工作是该项目的基础。分层线性模型被用来检验假设。拟议的研究解决了六个至关重要的，但被忽视的差距在文献中保留妇女在STEM领域。首先，尽管一些研究已经研究了STEM领域女大学生的气候问题，但很少有人研究气候如何影响同一研究中一系列STEM领域的女性，以确定它们之间的相似或不同。更少的关注已经给予教育环境的客观和主观方面如何同时影响STEM女性的离开决定;拟议的项目评估这两个气候方面。第二，拟议的项目包括来自两所非常不同的大学的参与者-一所以白色人为主的研究型大学和一所为少数民族服务的本科大学-这将有助于对气候如何影响不同教育环境中的妇女进行比较评价。第三，研究中超过一半的参与者是有色人种女性;目前缺乏研究影响有色人种女性在STEM领域保留的因素。样本还包括社会阶层和第一代大学生身份的变化，从而可以调查气候如何影响来自工人阶级背景的STEM女性。第四，该项目研究了STEM女性的职业观念，职业抱负，幸福感和学业成绩作为可能调解气候-退缩联系的关键因素。拟议研究的这一部分增加了我们对女性在经历负面教育氛围时退出STEM领域的理解。第五，拟议的研究调查了缓和或缓冲妇女免受负面教育气候负面影响的因素，从而增加了她们留在STEM的可能性。最后，纵向设计允许在女子大学的轨迹，是最敏感的deterration.Broader影响：从拟议的项目的调查结果有可能改变本科教育经验的妇女在STEM领域和解决关键的社会需要，教育年轻女性在全球经济中的竞争。因此，教育工作者、学生、家长、研究人员、政策制定者和公众都从研究结果中受益。外联工作的重点是：1）建立一个网站，报告所有主要发现，并提供已发表论文和研究结果演示文稿的链接，2）与大学管理人员，教师和学生团体举行会议，报告发现，讨论干预策略，并提供建议，3）通过在专业会议和同行评议出版物上的演示文稿向学术研究界传播。研究结果还为教育干预设计提供了信息，以促进妇女留在STEM领域，并使雇主和政策制定者能够制定有效的战略，以留住STEM领域的女性工作者。该项目还为女性和少数民族本科生和研究生提供研究培训机会。最后，调查结果有助于社会辩论的程度，性别歧视，种族主义，并针对妇女在大学环境中的一般虐待，特别是那些以科学为基础的和男性主导的。