Female peer mentors early in college increase women's positive academic experiences and retention in engineering
Female peer mentors early in college increase women's positive academic experiences and retention in engineering
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DOI：
10.1073/pnas.1613117114
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发表时间：
2017-06-06
影响因子：
11.1
通讯作者：
Dasgupta, Nilanjana
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dennehy, Tara C.;Dasgupta, Nilanjana
科学和工程创新对美国的竞争力、生活质量和国家安全至关重要。然而，从事这些领域的美国学生太少，尤其是女性。尽管这一问题引起了极大的关注，但在人工实验室环境外经过严格测试的干预措施相当少见。为了解决这一差距，我们进行了一项纵向实地实验，调查同伴指导对女性在大学转型期间的工程经验和留存的影响，在指导活跃的一年和指导结束后的另外一年评估其影响。将150名工科女生随机分为男女同伴导师组和无导师组，为期1年。在干预年和干预后1年，对她们的经历进行多次评估。女性(但不是男性)导师保护女性在工程学方面的归属感、自我效能感、动力、对工程学专业的留存以及大学毕业后的工程抱负。与通常的假设相反，在大学第一年，较好的工程成绩与更多的工程保留率或职业抱负并不相关。值得注意的是，更高的归属感和自我效能感与更多的保留力和职业抱负显著相关。同伴辅导的好处在干预结束后很长一段时间仍然存在，为女性接种了大学头两年的疫苗--这是科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)专业人员流失最多的窗口。因此，在发育转折点的短时间内，同性同伴指导会促进女性在工程方面的成功和保持，随着时间的推移会产生红利。
Scientific and engineering innovation is vital for American competitiveness, quality of life, and national security. However, too few American students, especially women, pursue these fields. Although this problem has attracted enormous attention, rigorously tested interventions outside artificial laboratory settings are quite rare. To address this gap, we conducted a longitudinal field experiment investigating the effect of peer mentoring on women's experiences and retention in engineering during college transition, assessing its impact for 1 y while mentoring was active, and an additional 1 y after mentoring had ended. Incoming women engineering students (n = 150) were randomly assigned to female or male peer mentors or no mentors for 1 y. Their experiences were assessed multiple times during the intervention year and 1-y postintervention. Female (but not male) mentors protected women's belonging in engineering, self-efficacy, motivation, retention in engineering majors, and postcollege engineering aspirations. Counter to common assumptions, better engineering grades were not associated with more retention or career aspirations in engineering in the first year of college. Notably, increased belonging and self-efficacy were significantly associated with more retention and career aspirations. The benefits of peer mentoring endured long after the intervention had ended, inoculating women for the first 2 y of college-the window of greatest attrition from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors. Thus, same-gender peer mentoring for a short period during developmental transition points promotes women's success and retention in engineering, yielding dividends over time.