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Cech Erin, Rubineau Brian, Silbey Susan, et al. Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering. 2011;76:641-666doi: 10.1177/0003122411420815.
Cech, E. r. i. n., Rubineau, B. r. i. a. n., Silbey, S. u. s. a. n., & Seron, C. a. r. o. l. l. (2011). Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering. 76641-666. https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411420815
Cech, Erin, et al. "Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering." vol. 76 (2011): 641-666. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0003122411420815
Cech Erin, Rubineau Brian, Silbey Susan, Seron Caroll. Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering. 2011;76:641-666. doi: 10.1177/0003122411420815. UIID-AD: 2397.
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2011;76:641-666. doi: 10.1177/0003122411420815.

Professional role confidence and gendered persistence in engineering.

Erin Cech, Brian Rubineau, Susan Silbey, Caroll Seron

UIID-AD: 2397 DOI: 10.1177/0003122411420815

Abstract

Social psychological research on gendered persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professions is dominated by two explanations: women leave because they perceive their family plans to be at odds with demands of STEM careers, and women leave due to low self-assessment of their skills in STEM’s intellectual tasks, net of their performance. This study uses original panel data to examine behavioral and intentional persistence among students who enter an engineering major in college. Surprisingly, family plans do not contribute to women’s attrition during college but are negatively associated with men’s intentions to pursue an engineering career. Additionally, math self-assessment does not predict behavioral or intentional persistence once students enroll in a STEM major. This study introduces professional role confidence—individuals’ confidence in their ability to successfully fulfill the roles, competencies, and identity features of a profession—and argues that women’s lack of this confidence, compared to men, reduces their likelihood of remaining in engineering majors and careers. We find that professional role confidence predicts behavioral and intentional persistence, and that women’s relative lack of this confidence contributes to their attrition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (journal abstract)

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