Despite increasing evidence that negative stereotypes adversely affect the career development of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, measuring their effects has been a challenge. This study focuses specifically on the sciences, since some, particularly physics, are notably imbalanced in terms of gender diversity. Our aim was to develop and begin to validate a measure of gender stereotypes in science, referred to as the Stereotype Threat in Science Scale-Gender (STSS-G). Participants consisted of 629 undergraduate women enrolled in biology, chemistry, and physics courses. Results of exploratory and factor mixture analyses yielded support for a 7-item scale consisting of two factors, social identity and identity threat, and five latent classes underlying a heterogeneous population. Results of structural equation modeling indicated that the two latent variables were significantly associated with scores on existing measures of science identity and stereotype threat. The construct, differential, and concurrent validity of the STSS-G are discussed.
Threatening stereotypes have been theorized as having negative consequences for domain identification among members of the stigmatized groups. The present research tested this disidentification hypothesis among college women (N ¼ 650) in academic majors that should be vulnerable (i.e., science and engineering) and immune (e.g., humanities and education) to these theorized effects. Results of structural equation modeling analyses were consistent with theoretical expectations, as stereotype threat was negatively and indirectly associated with the adoption of self-and taskapproach achievement goals through its relationship with science identity for science and engineering majors but not women in nonstereotyped majors. For the latter group, stereotype threat bypassed science identity and was instead both directly and indirectly related to approach motivation. Implications for academic/career motivation, science identity, and career counseling intervention are discussed.
Although some research has examined Latino collectivism and Latino students' campus climate perceptions, there remains a gap in the literature regarding the interactive effects of these two constructs. Therefore, the authors examined the moderating effect that perceptions of campus racial climate may have on the relationship between communal goals and academic major satisfaction for Latino students in comparison with European American students. Contrary to prediction, perceptions of a positive university campus racial climate moderated the relationship between communal goals and academic satisfaction for European American students but not Latino students. Specifically, European Americans endorsing higher communal goals were more likely to report higher academic satisfaction when holding a positive perception of the university's racial climate. However, a main effect was observed whereby communal goals were a significant positive predictor of academic satisfaction for Latino students. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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