Towards Closing the Gender Gap in Engineering. How Can Role Models Affect Girls’ Self-efficacy, Belonging, and Communal Goal Congruity?
(2017) PSYP01 20171Department of Psychology
- Abstract
- Girls continue to be less interested in studying engineering than boys. Previous research has found that this gender difference is in part due to girls’ lower self-efficacy, lower sense of belonging in engineering and higher communal goals, which they perceive are difficult to fulfil in engineering. This study tested if a role model intervention can improve these factors in female high school students and thereby raise their interest in engineering. The intervention consisted of a video displaying a group of interacting female engineering students describing their experiences in their studies. In a sample of 322 Swedish high school students we first replicated previous findings by showing that boys were generally more interested in... (More)
- Girls continue to be less interested in studying engineering than boys. Previous research has found that this gender difference is in part due to girls’ lower self-efficacy, lower sense of belonging in engineering and higher communal goals, which they perceive are difficult to fulfil in engineering. This study tested if a role model intervention can improve these factors in female high school students and thereby raise their interest in engineering. The intervention consisted of a video displaying a group of interacting female engineering students describing their experiences in their studies. In a sample of 322 Swedish high school students we first replicated previous findings by showing that boys were generally more interested in engineering than girls and that this gender difference in interest was mediated by gender differences in self-efficacy and communal goal endorsement, with self-efficacy being the strongest mediator. While expected belonging was a predictor of interest in engineering it did not mediate the gender differences in interest, contrary to previous research. We then expanded on previous research by showing that the role model intervention increased both boys’ and girls’ interest, expected belonging, and perceived communal goal affordance in engineering but had no effect on participants’ self-efficacy. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8918539
- author
- Giese, Laura LU and Kalucza, Janne LU
- supervisor
-
- Una Tellhed LU
- organization
- course
- PSYP01 20171
- year
- 2017
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- belonging, self-efficacy, role models, intervention, gender, engineering, STEM, communal goals
- language
- English
- id
- 8918539
- date added to LUP
- 2017-07-05 09:40:12
- date last changed
- 2017-07-05 09:40:12
@misc{8918539, abstract = {{Girls continue to be less interested in studying engineering than boys. Previous research has found that this gender difference is in part due to girls’ lower self-efficacy, lower sense of belonging in engineering and higher communal goals, which they perceive are difficult to fulfil in engineering. This study tested if a role model intervention can improve these factors in female high school students and thereby raise their interest in engineering. The intervention consisted of a video displaying a group of interacting female engineering students describing their experiences in their studies. In a sample of 322 Swedish high school students we first replicated previous findings by showing that boys were generally more interested in engineering than girls and that this gender difference in interest was mediated by gender differences in self-efficacy and communal goal endorsement, with self-efficacy being the strongest mediator. While expected belonging was a predictor of interest in engineering it did not mediate the gender differences in interest, contrary to previous research. We then expanded on previous research by showing that the role model intervention increased both boys’ and girls’ interest, expected belonging, and perceived communal goal affordance in engineering but had no effect on participants’ self-efficacy. Limitations of the study and directions for future research are discussed.}}, author = {{Giese, Laura and Kalucza, Janne}}, language = {{eng}}, note = {{Student Paper}}, title = {{Towards Closing the Gender Gap in Engineering. How Can Role Models Affect Girls’ Self-efficacy, Belonging, and Communal Goal Congruity?}}, year = {{2017}}, }