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

该项目继续从美国青年纵向研究(LSAY)的参与者那里定期收集和分析数据，以便继续监测这群年轻人的职业发展。STEP计划的早期资助促进了95%的原始样本的定位和近70%的原始参与者的重新联系。最近几年的两个数据收集周期已经在职业选择和工作满意度方面产生了重要的结果。这些数据正在继续促进对科学、技术、工程、数学和医学(STEMM)职业和其他非STEMM相关职业的职业选择、职业发展和职业满意度的理解。第一个周期的结果表明，这两个群体中约7%的人现在从事STEMM职业，另有8%的人从事STEMM支持职业。另一项分析表明，高中数学成绩和参加高中微积分课程是未来进入STEMM职业生涯的最强预测因素，而且男性仍然比女性更有可能进入STEMM职业生涯，这一研究中的其他主要变量保持不变。该项目正在为LSAY额外进行三个数据收集周期的收集和分析，跟踪LSAY中两个年龄段中较年长的一个，直到40岁。这些周期的重点是这些30多岁的成年人在STEMM工作中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--特别是女性--在短短几年后就离开了STEMM职业生涯。该项目预计将提供对STEMM职业坚持的相关因素以及阻碍STEMM职业的因素的洞察。任何一段时间的研究生学习都不能让未来的STEMM工作者为40年的科学生涯做好充分的准备。将LSAY队列再延长三个周期，将能够审查STEMM专业人员和STEMM支助工作者的继续教育活动，以及继续教育和在职学习在多大程度上有助于STEMM相关职业的坚持。

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.