Social Cognitive Influences on Scientific Research Careers among American Indians

描述（由申请人提供）：最近的报告强调了临床研究（国家研究委员会，2006年）和科学技术劳动力（国家研究委员会，2011年）中严重缺乏多样性，美国印第安人和阿拉斯加原住民的代表性尤其不足。在吸引美国印第安人和阿拉斯加土著学生从事行为和生物医学研究方面，仍然存在一些引人注目的问题。该项目将通过跟踪五组学生来测试社会认知职业理论的纵向模型，来研究促进和阻碍美国印第安学生学业毅力和职业成就的因素（Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994）。作为学术和职业成功预测因素的研究包括个人和环境投入、学习经验、自我效能预期和结果预期，作为兴趣、目标设定和为实现行为和生物医学研究职业而采取的行动的预测因素。该项目还旨在研究美国印第安人行为和生物医学专业学生与美国印第安人非科学专业学生在学术毅力和职业成就方面成功的重要因素的差异。最后，该项目旨在研究美国印第安学生进入研究型高等教育机构的途径。这些努力的目的是提供可作为干预措施依据的大量信息，增加美国印第安学生在生物医学和行为科学研究领域的教育和求职的参与和坚持。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Recent reports highlight a dramatic lack of diversity in both the clinical research (The National Research Council, 2006) and science and technology workforces (The National Research Council, 2011), with American Indian and Alaska Natives especially under-represented. Dramatic issues remain in attracting American Indian and Alaska Native students into behavioral and biomedical research careers. This project will examine factors that facilitate and impede academic perseverance and career achievement among American Indian students by tracking five cohorts of students to test a longitudinal model of Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994). Factors explored as predictors of academic and career success include personal and contextual inputs, learning experiences, self-efficacy expectations, and outcome expectations as predictors of interest in, goals set, and actions taken to achieve behavioral and biomedical research careers. The project also aims to examine differences in important factors predicting success in academic perseverance and career attainment for American Indian behavioral and biomedical science majors versus American Indian non-science majors. Finally, the project aims to examine pathways by which American Indian students enter a research-intensive institution of higher educations. These efforts are intended to provide substantial information upon which interventions can be based, to increase the participation and perseverance of American Indian students in education and job-seeking within biomedical and behavioral science research.