Educational Pathways to Science and Other Careers for Academically Talented Women

描述(由申请者提供)：这项研究项目的总体目标是确定女性在职业和商业以及科学方面越来越多的机会如何影响大学专业的决策过程，以及具有学术天赋的高中和大学女性以及更广泛的面向大学的女性对未来职业的选择。我们将从内在的兴趣因素中分离出在科学职业生涯中感觉到的家庭和工作结合困难的影响，这些因素可以说在决定大学专业和随后的职业生涯中起着重要作用。我们还将估计女性进步最慢的科学领域(物理科学和工程)与女性取得重大进步的其他科学、商业和精英职业(即法律、医学、牙科和其他精英职业)之间职业家庭不相容的程度。我们将比较具体领域对职业和家庭之间实际不相容(以及可能发生变化的)不相容的估计，与女性在学校期间的选择行为中揭示的对职业和家庭不相容的看法进行比较。最后，我们将确定，拥有强大的数学和科学课程的高中是否在引导女性从事科学职业方面做得更好，这些影响是否会在教育生涯中持续存在，以及拥有强大数学和科学课程的高中比例的变化是否有助于刺激过去25年来追求科学职业的女性比例的不断增长。我们的研究对于正确理解女性在科学领域(特别是在物理科学和工程领域)的不足以及对未来趋势的可能预测非常重要。与公共健康相关：这项研究项目的总体目标是确定女性在职业和商业以及科学领域越来越多的机会如何影响大学专业的决策过程，以及具有学业天赋的高中和大学女性未来的职业选择。我们将从内在的兴趣因素中分离出在科学职业生涯中感觉到的家庭和工作结合困难的影响，这些因素可以说在决定大学专业和随后的职业生涯中起着重要作用。我们的研究对公共卫生具有重要意义，因为学术上有天赋的高中女性是未来健康相关领域科学家的主要潜在来源，更多地了解影响她们职业选择的因素可以导致制定政策，确保有足够的健康科学家供应，以满足美国未来的需求。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this research project is to determine how growing opportunity for women to have careers in the professions and business as well in science is affecting the decision process about college major and the choice of future career for academically-talented high school and college women as well as the broader population of college oriented women. We will disentangle the impact of perceived difficulties in combining family and work in a science career from the intrinsic interest factors that arguably play a strong role in the determination of college major and subsequent career. We also will estimate the extent to which career-family incompatibility differs between the areas of science where women have made the least progress (physical science and engineering) and other areas of science, business, and elite professions (i.e., law, medicine, dentistry and other elite professions) where women have made significant progress. We will compare field-specific estimates of actual (and possibly changing) incompatibility between career and family with the perceptions of women about career-family incompatibility that are revealed in the choice behaviors of women while in school. Finally, we will establish whether high schools that have strong curricula in math and science do a better job in pointing women towards science careers, whether these effects persist over the educational career, and whether changes in the proportion of high schools with strong math and science curricula have helped to stimulate the growing proportion of women who have pursued science careers over the past twenty five years. Our study is important for a proper understanding of the female shortfall in science (particularly in the physical sciences and engineering) and the likely prognosis for future trends. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The overall goal of this research project is to determine how growing opportunity for women to have careers in the professions and business as well in science is affecting the decision process about college major and the choice of future career for academically-talented high school and college women. We will disentangle the impact of perceived difficulties in combining family and work in a science career from the intrinsic interest factors that arguably play a strong role in the determination of college major and subsequent career. Our study has important implications for public health because academically talented high school women are a major potential source of future scientists in health-related areas, and greater knowledge about the factors that affect their career choices can lead to policies to ensure an adequate supply of health scientists to fill America's future needs.